Fullmetal Awesomest
by The Awsome one
Summary: After Gilbert and his younger brother Ludwig fail to bring their mother back from the dead, they go on the search to find the one thing that can make their bodies normal again: The Philosopher's Stone. APH/FMA Crossover Better summary inside
1. The Two Alchemists Part I

**Summary: When Gilbert Beilschmidt and his younger brother Ludwig try to bring their dead mother back to life, one of them looses an arm and a leg while the other becomes nothing but a soul trapped in a suit of armor. Now they are agents of the government, on the search for the infamous Philosopher's Stone. But their enemies are more ruthless than them. **

**A/N: I own nothing from these two mangas. I also would like to mention that this is purely Manga based.**

Chapter One – The Two Alchemists Part I

"West!"

A young man's yell echoed through an empty house.

"Ludwig! _Ludwig?_ Damn! _Damn_! How could this have happened!"

The teenager who was yelling was on his hands and knees in front of a transmutation circle in the basement of his house with books and suits of armor next to him.

"It … it wasn't supposed to be like this …" The albino said brokenly. "Oh no …" he said when he realized something.

**Teachings that no not speak of pain have no meaning …**

"HE'S GONE …!" The albino said pounding his fist on the ground. Blood spilled out from where his left leg ending at the knee.

… **Because humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. **

XXX

**Four Years Later **

"_Children of God who dwell on the earth … there is no salvation without prayer and faith,"_ an elder man's voice came from out of several speakers through out a run down city. People were stopping to listen to what the man was saying.

"_The Sun God Leto will illuminate thy path. Behold! The Lord hath descended from his heavenly throne to save thee from all thy sins. For I am thy father … I am emissary of the sun God _…"

"… A religious broadcast on the radio?" A young child-like voice asked with a accent that was hard to miss. What made it more amusing was that the voice came from a suit of armor.

"'Emissary of the Sun God?'" Another voice said with another accent. "What the heck is _that_?" The man who was speaking put a fork of food into his mouth. The two were sitting at an outside restaurant.

"Actually, I was just going to ask the same thing about you two …" the man who was speaking was standing on the other side of the counter holding a bottle of alcohol. "Are you guys street performers or something?"

The man who had spoken second stopped drinking his drink. The young man was an albino with lighter skin than the Ishbalans. He wore a black shirt with black jeans and combat boots. He also had a red coat on with a symbol on the back and wore gloves. The albino was also short for his age. His companion was just a person in a giant suit of armor with spikes on the shoulders and on the forehead.

"Hey wait a minute, Pops! What is it about the awesome me and my brother that makes you think we're street performers?" The albino asked.

"Well … I mean … what else could you be?" The man asked. "I haven't seen your faces around here before. On a trip?" He asked. The albino put the straw from his glass in his mouth and began to play with it.

"Uh huh. We're trying to track something down. By the way, what's this broadcast?"

"You've never heard of Father Cornello?" The man's face had a look of shock.

"… _Who_?" The albino asked.

"Father Cornello, the Sun God Leto's emissary!"

Other people joined in on the conversation.

"He's the founder of the Church of Leto. He can work _miracles_!"

"He's a wonderful man who came to this town a few years ago and showed us all the way of God."

"Yeah, he's amazing!"

"They're real miracles! It's the work of God!"

During the talk, the red haired teen had slumped down onto the table.

"… You're not listening are you kid?" The restaurant owner asked.

"Nope. I'm agnostic," came the reply. "Thanks for the eats. Let's go," the albino said standing up. His armored companion followed but when the taller man stood up he bumped onto the top the restaurant. The radio fell to the ground breaking.

"Oops," the armored man said, quietly.

"_Hey_! Could you _please_ be more careful, sir? Frankly, you shouldn't walk around where that suit …"

"Our bad," the albino said, while the armored man looked the broken radio on the ground. "Don't worry, we'll fix it right away."

"You think you can _fix _it?" The owner asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Just sit back and watch. I'm never wrong."

The albino's friend than drew a circle with a square inside of it and his symbols around the broken radio with a piece of chalk and stood up.

"Okay, all set!" The man said standing up. "Here we go …" he said getting into a position.

The restaurant owner looked confused.

BOOM!

There was a loud noise and smoke appeared from where the radio and the circle was.

"Wha …?"

"How's that?" The albino asked once the smoke had cleared and pointed to the now fixed radio.

"That … that's amazing!" The owner said, looking in disbelief at the radio. "Can you work miracles?"

The albino looked annoyed.

"Miracles? We're just alchemists," he said. "We're the Beilschmidt Brothers. A lot of people have heard of us."

"Beilschmidt, eh … the Beilschmidt Brothers?"

"Yeah, _I've _heard of you guys!" People then started to move closer to the two brothers.

"They say the older brother is a state alchemist they call … the Fullmetal Alchemist Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

"Yup," the albino said but then the people moved around to the armored brother.

"So, _you're_ the master alchemist that everyone's talking about!"

"Oh, I get it! They call you 'Fullmetal' because you wear the armor!"

"Uh, no … it's not _me_. It's him!" The suit of armor pointed to the albino.

"Huh?"

"You mean the _little _guy?"

"I'M NOT LITTLE! DON'T CALL ME MIDGET! OR SHORTY! OR SHRIMP! OR UNAWESOME!" the albino now known as Gilbert yelled.

"I'm the younger brother, Ludwig Beilschmidt," the person in armor said.

"It's _me_," Gilbert said, looking mad and pointing at himself. "I'm the 'Fullmetal Alchemist'! Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

"Sorry about that …" the people were saying to the now angry albino.

Before Gilbert could say anything else, a female's voice interrupted.

"Good day, sir. My, you're busy today," the speaker was a young girl looking no older than 15 or 16 with long black hair with bangs that were dyed pink. She wore a long light colored dress.

"Oh hello, Rosé," the shop owner said. "Going to the temple today?" He asked as the young girl, Rosé took out a wallet.

"Uh-huh, with some offerings. The usual, please," Rosé said and turned to the brothers, "oh, some new faces …"

"Hello," Gilbert and Ludwig said at the same time.

"Yeah, they're alchemists … they say they're looking for something."

"I hope you find what you're searching for," Rosé said, holding a bag full of food, "may Leto bless you!" With that the girl left.

"Rosé's become so happy lately."

"Uh-huh, and it's all thanks to the father."

"Huh?" The albino asked.

"Not only does that girl have no family, but she lost her boyfriend last year in an accident …" the shop owner started saying.

"It was hard to see her so sad. I felt really bad for her," a man sitting near the Beilschmidts said.

"That's when she was saved by Father Cornello! He taught her about the Sun God Leto!" Another said.

"Preach on! He raises the dead, and the souls of his faithful live forever. Cornello's miracles prove it," a third added.

"You should see it for yourself! It's definitely the power of God!"

"_I tell you, pray and have faith. All thy prayers will be answered _…"

XXX

"… And the grace of his light shall shine upon all of his children," the man speaking was some what tall, bald with thick grey eyebrows and wearing black robes.

A click showed that he had turned off the large P.C.A.

"A fine sermon, your holiness," a man said who was standing next to the elder.

"Yes, thank you your holiness! It's always an honor to hear you preach," a second man said.

"You holiness!" Rosé's voice rang out as she ran towards Father Cornello.

"Oh, it's you Rosé. My, so dedicated! You're an example to us all," Cornello said turning to the female.

"No, I'm just doing my duty," she replied. "_Um_ … by the way, father … when will you be able to …?" She asked nerverously.

Cornello smiled at her. "Yes, I know what it is you ask," he started, "God has seen your good deed. Then …" he placed a hand on her shoulder and Rosé smiled brightly, "but it is not yet _time_, Rosé. You understand, don't you?" He asked. "Hmm?"

"… Yes, father," Rosé said, sadly, looking down, "You're right …. Not yet …."

"That's a good girl, Rosé," Cornello said.

XXX

The state alchemist and his armored brother stood in a cathedral, looking at a statue of the Sun God, Leto.

"Oh, you two again!" Rosé's voice rang out as she entered the cathedral. "Are you going to join the Church of Leto?"

"Naw ... sorry but I'm not religious," Gilbert said turning away from the young woman.

"That's not a real answer! If you believe in God, you can live with hope and gratitude every day. It's wonderful!" Rosé said looking pleased with her small speech. "If you have faith, you'll grow taller for sure. Miracles do happen!" Rosé added.

"What was that?" Gilbert said, looking mad and looked like he was going to punch Rosé.

"Easy, easy," Ludwig said, holding back his elder brother. "She's not saying it to be mean, bruder."

"_Sheesh_, how can you honestly believe theses things?" Gilbert asked once he had calmed down, sitting on a bench. "Do you really believe that if you pray to God the dead will come back to life?" He asked.

Rosé closed her eyes as she answered. "Yes. I do …!"

Gilbert sighed and took out a small notebook.

"Water: 35 liters. Carbon: 20 kg. Ammonia: 4 liters. Lime: 1.5 kg. Phosphorus: 8000 g. Salt: 250 g. Saltpeter: 100 g. Sulfur: 80 g. Fluorine: 7.5 g. Iron: 5 g. Silicon: 3 g. And 15 other elements in small quantities …"

"Huh?" Rosé asked confused.

"That's the total chemical makeup of the average adult body," Gilbert said. "Modern science knows all of this, but there has never been a single example of successful human transmutation. It's like there's some _missing ingredient_ … scientists have been trying to find it for hundreds of years, pouring tons of money into research, and to this day they don't have a theory," Gilbert shut his notebook. "They say science is a lost cause, but I think it's better than sitting around on your unawesome asses praying and waiting for something to happen.

"For that matter the elements found in a human being … is all junk you can buy in any market with a child's allowance. Humans are pretty cheaply made."

"People aren't _objects_! That's an insult to the creator! God will punish you for saying things like that!" Rosé yelled. Instead of the reaction she had expected, Gilbert laughed.

"Aha ha-ha!

"Alchemists are scientists. We don't believe in unprovable concepts like 'God.' We strive to uncover the principles of creation in the matter of the world, the world to pursue truth …

"It's ironic that we scientists … who don't believe in God … are in a sense the closest things to him," Gilbert said.

"What pride …" Rosé asked. "Are you saying that you are God's equal?"

"Well …" Gilbert closed his eyes. "It's like that myth about the hero … he made wings out of wax so he could fly … but when he got too close to sun … to God … the wax melted and he crashed to the ground."

Rosé looked very confused.

XXX

Father Cornello waved to the crowd of people who were standing outside and they threw flowers at him.

"_Your holiness_!"

"Give us a miracle!"

"Your holiness!"

Cornello caught a flower in his hand and then put his other hand on top of it.

**Boom!**

When he opened his hands there was a huge sunflower instead of the small flower he had held only seconds before.

The crowd cheered happily.

The Beilschmidt brothers stood in the back of the crowd watching, with Gilbert standing on a suitcase to see.

"That kind of transmutation has to be alchemy," Ludwig said.

"That's what I thought," replied his brother. "But what about the laws …?"

Rosé looked over to the brothers. "So you came to see him after all! See, he _does_ have miraculous powers. Father Cornello is the Sun God's child," she said, happily.

"Naw," Gilbert replied. "That's alchemy, no matter how you look at it. Cornello's an unawesome fraud."

Rosé quietly growled at that.

"But he can bypass the laws for some reason," Ludwig added.

"Yeah … that's the problem right there," Gilbert replied rubbing the back of his head.

"'The Laws?'" Rosé asked.

"Most people think that alchemy can do anything and create whatever you want … but in reality there are certain concrete laws.

"I guess the two big concepts are '_The Law of Conservation of Mass_' and '_The Law of Natural Providence_.' Although some Alchemists conjure with four elements or with three principles …"

"Huh?" Rosé asked, looking hopelessly lost in what Gilbert was saying.

"_Um_, let me try …" Ludwig said, "A substance can only be created from the same substance. For example, if something's mostly water, you can only use it to make other things with the attributes of water."

"In other words, the basics of alchemy is the 'Equivalent Exchange'! That means to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost.

"But that old guy is making too much out of too little … alchemy-wise that's breaking the law," Gilbert said, looking at Cornello and noticing his ring with a red stone.

"_See_? So why don't you two just have faith that it's a miracle already?" Rosé asked.

"Big Bruder … do you think …?"

"Yeah, I do," Gilbert said, his red eyes narrowing. "_I think we found it_."

The elder brother turned to Rosé suddenly. "Hey lady, I'm starting to get interested in this religion! The awesome me would _love_ to speak to his holiness. Do you think you could take me to him?"

"Oh my! So you're finally starting to believe!" Rosé said, looking extremely happy.

XXX

A man walked into a room where Cornello was having some tea.

"Your holiness, there are some people here who are requesting an audience with you," he said. "It's a boy and a man in a suit of armor. They say they're the Beilschmidt Brothers."

"What?" Cornello asked. "I'm busy – send them away," then something struck the priest. "Wait, hold on. The Beilschmidt Brothers? Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

"Yes, it was the boy who called himself that … do you know him?"

"Aaggh …! This is bad! It's Gilbert Beilschmidt … the _Fullmetal Alchemist_!"

"Wha …? But he's a little brat, only this high," the man put his hand to around his mid chest, "you're joking right!"

"Fool!" Cornello said, "alchemical skill has nothing to do with age! I had heard that he obtained the title of State Alchemist at age 12 … so … the rumors about this brat were really true …"

"What is a State Alchemist doing here! Could it be that our plan …"

"It seems the dogs of the military have good noses," Cornello mused, thinking.

"Shall we chase them away?"

"No, that would cause more suspicion. And even if we did chase them away, they'd come back … and bring more. Let's just say … _They never came here_," Cornello said with an evil look in his eye. "How does that sound?"

The dark haired man looked surprised before smirking.

"It shall be as God wills …"

**To be continued in Part 2 …**

**I hope you're happy with this chapter. It's nearly 10 pages in Word. It's actually a lot harder than it looks to write a something out of book and try to change the wording to fit the characters you are switching it to. Well since Ed and Gil do seem to have the same kind of personality to me it wasn't that hard so far …**

**I will be doing most of the story's chapters in parts because frankly it's sometimes just too long for me to write out in one go. **

**Please read and review this story. Also try to go easy since this is my first time writing in the APH and FMA fandoms. **

**Until next time! **


	2. The Two Alchemists Part II

Chapter Two – The Two Alchemists Part II

"Please, come this way," the dark haired priest said leading the two brothers and Rosé through an open door. "His holiness is very busy so it's not easy to get an audience with him. You two are very lucky," he added.

"I'll try not to talk for too long," Gilbert said as the door slammed shut.

The priest had an open smirk on his face as he reached inside his jacket for something. "Yes, let's end it right away," the priest pulled out a gun and pressed it to an opening in Ludwig's armor that he saw out of. "_Like this!"_

He pulled the trigger on the gun and the helmet was blown off and Ludwig fell to the ground. At the very same moment that Gilbert was going to move towards the priest two guards put their spears in front of the albino blocking his way.

"Brother Cray! What are you doing!" Rosé asked, yelling at Cray.

"Rosé, these are heathens that were trying to entrap his holiness. They're evil," Cray replied.

"What! But his holiness would never let you this … let you …"

"He _did_ allow it!" Cray said, a gleam in his eye. "The words of his holiness are the words of God. _This is the will of God_!" Cray said aiming the gun at Gilbert's head.

"Hmm …" A hand gripped the gun, "_guess there's some really bad God's out there_," Cray looked in shock at Ludwig who had stood back up not bothering to put back on his helmet. But there was one thing. It looked like there was nothing in the suit of armor.

"Wha …?"

At that moment Gilbert grabbed one of the spears with one hand and gripped the tunic of the man holding the spear and threw the man to the ground as Ludwig punched Cray in the face.

The other guard yelled and tried to get away but Gilbert threw Ludwig's helmet at him, knocking him out.

"All right! Strike!" Gilbert said, giving a thumbs up.

"My head …!" Ludwig said annoyed.

"Wh … wh … wh … _What is this?_" Rosé asked pointing at the younger brother.

"Nothing special …" Gilbert said, knocking on the empty suit of armor that was his younger brother.

"It's just what it looks like," Ludwig finished.

"Th … there's nothing inside … it's empty!" Rosé asked, looking horrified.

"You might say …" Ludwig started putting the helmet back on, "… that this is what happens when you commit the greatest sun … when you trespass in God's domain. MY big bruder and I both …"

"You too … Gilbert?" Rosé asked turning to the State Alchemist. Said alchemist scratched the back of his head.

"Well, let's just save that story for another time … anyway I guess _your_ God showed his true colors," he finished casting a glance towards the unconscious priest and his guards on the ground.

"No! It has to be some kind of mistake!" Rosé said.

Gilbert looked annoyed. "_Aww_, man … she's seen all this and she still believes in 'his phoniness'? That's totally unawesome."

The alchemist turned to Rosé. "Rosé … do you have the courage to face the truth?" He asked.

XXX

"This is Cornello's room? The one that Rosé told us about?" Ludwig asked.

"Let's see …" Gilbert said and as soon as he said that, the door creaked open.

"Hmph. I guess that means 'Come on in.'" He added, smirking.

The brothers stepped into the room and as soon as they were in, the door slammed shut.

"Welcome to the Church of Leto," Cornello's voice rang out from where he was standing on a staircase. "Did you come to hear me preach? Hmm?"

"Yeah, by all means teach us …" Gilbert said, "… like about how you use your lame alchemy to deceive you followers!"

"Well … I'm sure what you mean," Cornello said, "please don't confuse my miracles with alchemy. If you saw yourself you'd believe …"

"Yeah, I've seen it all right … and what I couldn't understand what how you're able to do transmutation that goes against the laws."

"That's why I'm telling you it's _not _alchemy …" Cornello said tapping the side of his head with a finger.

"Then it came it me," Gilbert interrupted. "_The Philosopher's Stone_," he finished smirking. "_That's _how you do it, right? Like maybe … just maybe … it's that _ring_?"

Cornello just tapped his head. "Heh … the government get their money's worth out of you, don't they? I guess you saw through the whole thing. Correct! The Philosopher's Stone, the legendary catalyst, the amplifier of all alchemical processes. With this I can conjure at the minimum price, for the maximum result!"

"How long I've searched for that …" Gilbert said a gleam in his eyes.

"_Hmph_! What's the jealous look in your eyes?" Cornello asked. "What do _you_ want the stone for? Money? Honor?"

"What about you?" What do you get out of founding this phony religion? If it's money you want you can make as much as you want with the stone."

"It's not about the money. Well, I do what money, but I can get that with almost no effort in the form of donations from my flock. What I _really_ need are followers who will happily give their lives for me.

"Think about it! An invincible army of fanatics with no fear of death! Soon I'll have more than enough people! Just watch! Within a few years time this entire nation will be mine! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Cornello got a crazy gleam in his eyes as he told Gilbert his plan.

"Well, fine, but I don't really care about that … let's move on," Gilbert said, looking bored.

"_WHAT!_ Don't belittle my ambition by saying you 'don't car'! You'd better care! You're a member of the military after all!"

"You know to be honest, I could care less about my country _or _the military," the teen said. "I'll be blunt! Give me the Philosopher's Stone! If you do that, I'll stay quiet about the scam you've been pulling on everybody."

"Hmph! You'd try to bargain with _me_ …? My followers would never believe the words of an outsider like you! The people of this town _love_ me! They think that my words come from _God_! No matter how much noise you make, no matter what evidence you have, they'll _never_ listen to you! _Those idiots will believe anything I tell them! I've completely fooled them_!"

"_Wow_ … you _are_ smart," Gilbert said clapping. "Thanks for telling me how you do it. You're right. You followers will never listen to a word the awesome me might say."

Ludwig broke a strap off the chest plate on the armor as his brother was talking.

"_But_!"

Ludwig slammed down his chest plate onto the ground to reveal Rosé who was hiding in his chest captivity the whole time.

"But what about _her_ words?" Gilbert asked.

"R-Rosé! What is the meaning of this …?" Cornello asked, shocked.

"Whoa," muttered Ludwig as Rosé scrambled to get out of her hiding spot.

"Father! Is everything you said just now true!" She asked. "Were you fooling us this whole time! Your miracles aren't real? The power of God can't grant my wish? _You can't bring my darling back again_!" Rose asked, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hmm … it's true that I'm not God's emissary … but with this stone, it may be possible to transmute living being, which so many alchemists have tried and failed. Rosé, I will resurrect him!" Cornello answered.

"Rosé, don't listen to him!" Ludwig warned. "He's lying!"

"Rosé, be a good girl and come here," Cornello extended his hand for the girl to take.

"If you go, you can never come back," Gilbert warned.

"What's the matter? You belong with us."

"_Rosé_!" Ludwig said.

"I'm the only one that can grant you your wish. Isn't that so? Thank about your darling. And come!"

Rosé started to walk to Cornello.

"I'm so, sorry you two," she said and turned to face the brothers. "But this is the only choice I can make."

"You truly are a good child …" Cornello said. "Well then … now we must eradicate these heathens who threaten the future of our faith," he added pulling a switch.

A door opened in the room and a long snake like tail was revealed. A head of a lion growled at the brothers who watched as a creature appeared out of the room.

"This Philosopher's Stone is truly incredible … it can even create a new life … like this. Have you never seen a _chimera_?" Cornello asked as the creature revealed itself.

It had the head and upper body of a lion while the bottom half was of some sort of large lizard.

"Whew boy!"

"So …" Gilbert said, clapping his hands and then kneeling on the ground. "Looks like this one might be tough to play empty handed."

Cornello looked confused onto the sound that came when someone was using alchemy sounded.

As Gilbert stood up, he brought from the ground, a spear that he had made out of the ground.

"Ergh …! You made a weapon from the floor without using a transmutation circle? So you deserve the title of State Alchemist after all!" Cornello said. "But that still won't be enough!"

The chimera moved towards Gilbert who used to spear to block the attack but instead the chimera's claws cut through the spear and his left leg causing him to grab said limb looking down.

"Oh no …" He muttered.

"_Wa ha ha ha ha! Well?_ How do you like the taste of claws that can cut through iron?" Cornello asked.

"Gilbert!" Rosé yelled, horrified.

"… Psych!" Gilbert said, a smirk on his face as the chimera's claws fell off the paw. Cornello looked shocked as Gilbert used his left leg to kick the chimera in the chest knocking him back.

"Sorry, these are custom made," Gilbert said, his torn pant leg showing metal through the ripped cloth.

"Wh-what's the matter! If your claws won't work then bite him to death!" Cornello yelled.

The lion chimera growled at Gilbert before charging at him. The red eyed teen caught the chimera's jaw with his right arm, allowed the teeth to wrap around said arm. The chimera tried his best to bite Gilbert but it failed repeatedly.

"What's the matter, kitty? Tastes bad?" Gilbert asked as he kicked the chimera in the jaw, which was knocked off him.

"Look at me, Rosé," Gilbert said to the girl. "This is what happens when you use alchemy on humans … this is what happens to sinners who trespass in God's domain!" He yelled, as Cornello and Rosé looked shocked at Gilbert who ripped of his now ripped jacket.

"… Auto-mail …" Cornello started, "full steel prosthetics …" the fake priest's eyes narrowed. "'Fullmetal' prosthetics … so what's why … THE FULLMETAL ALCEHMIST!" Cornello yelled as Gilbert's right arm was shown to be just a metal arm that connected to his shoulder.

"Come down here and face me, you third-rate fraud," Gilbert said as he made the 'come here' motion with his metal arm. "_I'll show you there's no comparison between us_!"

**To be continued …**

**I'm so happy! I've finished the second chapter of this story in less than two days! *Happy Dance***

***Coughing* Onto other matters. **

**A big thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited this story or put it on story alerts. It means a lot to me! I know chapter was actually that long compared to the first one, but I promise that the next one will be longer. **

**I just got one small problem when writing this story – I still need find some APH characters to fit the FMA characters. If anyone has an idea for King Bradley/Wrath or Breda it would be very helpful.**

**I'll try my best to have the next part up by Friday. **


	3. The Price of Life Part I

Chapter Three – The Price of Life Part I

"… I see. Now I understand who you are. It was always a mystery to me why a mere brat had a fearsome alias like 'Fullmetal' … but I know," Cornello said smirking at Gilbert. "Look at them, Rosé! Those two dared to do the one thing forbidden to alchemists … the unspeakable crime of _Human Transmutation_!"

Rosé looked shocked at the two brothers.

"They've committed the worst possible sin!" Cornello yelled.

'_He made wings out of wax so he could fly … but when he got too close to the sun … to God … the max melted and he crashed to the ground,'_ Gilbert's words rang in Rosé's ears. Was this what he had meant?

XXX

"West! West! Hey Ludwig!" Eleven year old Gilbert called out to his ten year old brother who was in the library.

"What is it, big bruder?" Ludwig asked, turning blue eyes onto his brother who was laying a large piece of paper with a transmutation circle on the table.

"Look! We can't go wrong using this theory!" The albino said excitedly.

"No way. This is ...?"

"It is! This says how to do it! _We can bring mom back from the dead_!"

_We never had any doubts about doing it. Our mother was so kind, the kindest person in the world … all we wanted was to see our mother's smile again._

_Even if it meant breaking the Laws of Alchemy. That was the only reason we were studying Alchemy after all …_

_**But the resurrection failed.**_

_When it failed my bruder lost his left leg … and I had my whole body 'taken'. I lost consciousness for awhile … the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes was this armor body and a sea of blood …_

"Heh, heh … sorry," Gilbert rasped, a leg stump bandaged and his left arm gripping the stump of his right arm. "All I could get for one arm was your soul …"

"Bruder, why?" Ludwig asked.

XXX

"Even after the horrible injury of losing his left leg, my older bruder exchanged his right arm for my soul … and put it in this body of armor," Ludwig said to Rosé.

"Heh …" Gilbert laughed closing his eyes, "the two of us tried to resurrect one person and this is what happened," he turned to look at Rosé, a serious look on his face. "This is what it takes to raise the dead, Rosé. _Are you ready to make that sacrifice?_" He yelled at the girl who looked frightened.

"Heh heh heh … and you call yourself a State Alchemist!" Cornello laughed, "Don't make me laugh!"

"Shut up!" Gilbert yelled. "You're just an unawesome third-rate hack who can't do anything without that stone!"

"I see, I see … so _that's_ why you want the Philosopher's Stone. Good idea. If you used _this _you might be able to transmutate humans for _real_, eh?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, Baldy! The reason we want the stone is to get our original bodies back," the red eyed teen said, angrily, "besides we still don't know if it'll be able to do _that_."

"Father, I'll ask you again," the younger brother said, "give us the stone before you get hurt."

"Heh heh … you fools are the only ones who came too close to God and fell to earth," Cornello stated, holding his cane with both hands, "if that's the case, than this time I'll make sure to … send you to God _permanently_!" He yelled his cane now a gun firing rounds at the two brothers.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Cornello laughed before going, "huh?"

When the smoke cleared it showed a large block of stone with bullet wounds in it.

"Sorry," Gilbert said, "God doesn't like me very much. Even if I went he'd probably chase me away!"

"Tch!" went Cornello who turned to where Rosé was standing when Ludwig picked her up bridal style and started leaving with her. "Why you …" he fired several bullets at the two as Rosé screamed.

The bullets had no effect on the armor, only getting a barely audible "Ow, ow, ow," from Ludwig.

"West!" Gilbert yelled pointing at the door. "Let's get out of here!"

"Fools!" Cornello yelled. "The exit is rigged! Only I can open it from here!"

Gilbert than caught sight of an empty, blank wall.

"Oh, is that so?" He asked clapping his hands together and slamming them on the wall. A door appeared at that very spot.

"Whaaat?"

The Brothers than opened the door, pushing it with their shoulders.

"If there's no door, then I'll make one!" Gilbert said as he and his brother took off down the hall.

"Don't just stand there!" Cornello said, reaching the door. He spoke to his guards. "Go after them! They're Pagans who want to destroy our religion! Get them! Hurry!"

"There they are!" One yelled.

"Hey you! Stop!" Another added.

"Hey, you little runt, are you gonna take us all on empty handed?"

"Might as well give yourself up before you get hurt …"

Gilbert clapped his hands together, an innocent grin on his face.

"Huh?" went two priests.

Then the albino's face got an evil grin on his face as his metal arm turned into a blade on one side and a saw like blade on the other.

The priests yelled panicked.

"Er … um …" another priest said to other behind him as he watched his comrades' get beat up by the two. "They're strong! Don't let your guard down just because he's a kid!"

"'scuse us," Ludwig said, still holding Rosé as he kicked the priest, knocking himself out.

As they passed an open room Gilbert paused.

"What's this?"

"The broad-casting room. This is where Father Cornello delivers his sermons over the radio …" Rosé said after the younger brother had put her down.

"Oh really?" Gilbert said thinking, rubbing his chin with a gleam in his eyes.

'Uh-oh. He's got a _bad _idea,' Ludwig thought.

XXX

"There's a lot of noise down there today," a man with a watch said.

"Hey, what are you doing! It's way past the time when you're supposed to ring the bell!"

"The bell …"

"Huh?"

"The bell's gone!"

"Say what?"

Ludwig then walked away with the missing bell thrown over his shoulder.

XXX

"About what you were saying before," Rosé started saying as Ludwig joined her, "I can't believe you have to do all that to perform alchemy."

"I told you," the armored teen said putting down the bell. "The foundation of alchemy is the _'Equivalent Exchange.'_

"To obtain something something, something of equal value must be lost. People call my bruder a genius, but the reason he's so good at it is he paid the prince … and worked so hard."

"But because you sacrificed so much, you must have been able to bring you mother …"

Ludwig looked down if he could, he would have closed his eyes.

"The thing we brought back wasn't even human any more."

Rosé looked shocked.

XXX

"Nooo! How could this happen? Big bruder, you theory was flawless!"

"Yeah … there weren't any mistakes in the theory …" Gilbert said holding up his bloodied hand. "We were the ones who made the mistake."

XXX

"We've give up on human transmutation, but my bruder still wants to get my original body back. I'd like to make my bruder's body the way it was too."

The suit of armor knelt down on the ground, drawing a transmutation circle with chalk.

"But like I said before, the risks are high … so we might end up even worse, or lose our lives. That's the way things are in this business."

Ludwig stood up and turned to Rosé.

"Rosé, that's why you can't choose this path."

**To Be Continued …**

**Okay thank you to everyone who has read this story. I'm sorry for taking a while to get this out but I went camping over the weekend and I couldn't upload until Tuesday and I didn't have much time to write. On the good side however I've written in a notebook up to halfway through the train being hijacked chapter.**

**Really got nothing else to add so please read and review! **


	4. The Price of Life Part II

The Price of Life Part II

Cornello ran through the halls of the cathedral until he stopped at his open office door to see Gilbert sitting on the desk.

"You little runt, you're not getting away," Cornello yelled at the albino. "Just give up, will you? News of your trickery will spread throughout the town in no time anyway."

Gilbert sighed, resting his chin on his metal hand.

"Shut up! Everyone within the church is under my direct control! They'd never believe a stupid follower if she contradicted me!"

"My, my. I feel sorry for those poor followers if yours."

"Followers are just pawns for _war_! I don't have time to be sorry for mere _pawns_! If I ask them to, they'll die happy and fulfilled believing they did it for God!"

At this Gilbert grinned slightly as the mad man ranted.

"I'll mass-produce them! _Limitless _fanatics from masses of idiots who can't even tell alchemy from miracles! Did you think that you could stop my plans so easily! You underestimated the power of blind faith!" Cornello finished laughing as though he was a mad man.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Gilbert laughed loudly stopping Cornello's laughter.

"What's so funny!"

"That's why I keep saying you're a _third-rat,_ Baldy," Gilbert said chuckling.

"You little brat! How dare you insult me!"

"Know what this is?" Gilbert asked in a sing-song voice holding up the switch for the speakers. Cornello then noticed the microphone at his feet and that the switch was turned on.

"You … you couldn't have …. YOU LITTLE RAT!" He yelled. From a rooftop Ludwig and Rosé stood; the former holding up the bell which had been turned into a speaker.

"How long has that switch been turned on?" Cornello asked.

"From the very beginning. You just exposed your entire plan."

People in the town stopped, listening to what the fraud had said about them and this plan.

"Wha … wha … what? You dumb brat …" Cornello growled, touching his cane, "I'm going to kill y-" he was cut off by Gilbert turning his auto-mail into a blade. In return his cane was now a gun.

"Too slow!" the teen yelled, slashing the blade against the gun, cutting off part of it. "Didn't I tell you? There's no comparison between us."

"I won't … I won't give up …" Cornello said, "as long as I have this stone I can make miracles again and again!" He yelled starting to fix his weapon. Suddenly he cried out in pain as the gun fused into his arm.

"My arm! My arm!"

"Wh …" Gilbert for once was speechless.

"Agghh! It hurts! Aaggghhh!"

"Why … why did it …?" Gilbert asked before grabbing the front of Cornello's shirt. "Shut up! It was just a rebound! Don't make a big deal over one or two arms. The stone! Let me see the Philosopher's Stone!"

"Aggh! M … my stone!"

Everyone froze as the stone cracked and fell onto the ground breaking into pieces.

"It … broke" Gilbert asked. "How could this happen? How could a _pure substance_ like the Philosopher's Stone break apart?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything! Nobody told me a thing! Agggh! … Please spare me. I was wrong …" Cornello pleaded.

"It's a fake …?"

"I'm powerless with the stone. Help me …"

"After coming this far …" the white haired teen said, brokenly. "I thought I could finally go back to normal … and it's a fake …" he let go of Cornello to fall to his knees in despair.

'Heh, heh, heh … he's not paying attention to me! This is my chance,' thought Cornello. 'I'll get even with them even if it means giving everything to kill this one kid.'

"Hey … old man …" Gilbert asked.

"Uh … Y-yes!"

"First you lied to the townspeople, than you tried to kill me …" he began, the tell-time sounds of alchemy being formed was filling the room.

"Wha …?" Cornello asked. Ludwig and Rosé than entered the room seeing what was going on.

"Huh …?" went the younger brother.

"… and now after all the trouble you put the awesome me though, you're telling me the stone was a _fake_?" Cornello moved back as a giant first pounded right where he had been standing a second earlier.

The room's walls and ceiling had been turned into a giant statue of Leto.

"THIS BETTER BE SOME KIND OF JOKE!" Gilbert yelled. "FEEL THE IRON BLOW OF GOD'S WRATH!"

"Oh my G-" Cornello was cut off by the first pounding down just in front of him.

"It's a fake?" Ludwig asked his brother.

"Yeah, it was the whole time. Just when I thought we were going to get your old body back …" Gilbert said, flexing his metal arm.

"We need to worry about _you_ first. Auto-mail has a lot of problems," Ludwig glanced at his brother's work, sighing.

"Oh well, I guess we'll look somewhere else … back on the road again," the albino said, standing up.

"But …" He turned to Rosé who was on her knees. "There must be some mistake … I mean … they told me that he could come back to life …"

"Give it up, Rosé. It could never have …"

"What did you do to me …? What do I _do_?" the girl asked now crying. "What am I supposed to believe in now? Are you going to tell me? Well are you?"

"You need to figure that out on your own," Gilbert said, picking up his red coat and throwing it over a shoulder. "Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. At least you have strong legs to take you there," with that the two alchemists left the crying girl to herself in the ruins of the room.

XXX

"Bring out Father Cornello!"

"We want the truth!"

"You lied to us!"

"Open up!"

"Explain yourself!"

An angry mob was outside the church demanding for Cornello to come out.

"… Damn it," Cornello muttered. "I can't believe they ruined my plans. I won't allow it," he walked past the half eaten corpse of the chimera. "I've invested too much in this to let it fall apart …"

"Really, zou were _zo _close … and now everyzing's ruined," a heavily accented voice said to the priest who looked shocked.

"Long zime no zee. Wish it zas longer," the speaker was a young woman with wavy dirty blond hair which was tied back into a French knot and blue eyes. She wore a one piece pure black dress with sleeves that turned into gloves and high heeled boots. Next to her was a male with a similar outfit only in a one piece jumpsuit idea without the boots or sleeves. He had light brown hair with a curl and amber eyes and was eating a foot of the chimera. "You've caused a zot of trouble, You Holiness."

"Wh … what's the meaning of this!" Cornello yelled. "The Philosopher's Stone you gave me broke into pieces! How dare you give me a fake!"

"Please," the woman said. "Did zou think ze would hand zover the zeal thing to a person like zou?"

"You … you said that I would be able to take over this country by using this stone!"

"Mmm … I zid zay somezing like zhat, zidn't I? All ze wanted zas for zou to cause alittle chaos in zhis region. Zhat's all. _What_? Zou look surprised. Zid you really zink zhat a third-rate despot like yourself could become zhe ruler of a country?"

"Aha ha hah! You're really too much!"

"Veee Lust, can I eat this old guy?"

"Non, non, Gluttony. You're going zo zet a stomach ache if zou eat zhe likes of him," Lust said. "If zou eat zhis third-rate … non, zhis fourth-rate fool …"

"AAARRRGG!" Cornello yelled. "You're all mocking me – you and everybody else!"

Lust just moved her hand towards Cornello's forehead and her fingers turned to into spears and one impaled itself in his forehead.

"Zou … are no longer any use," Lust said as Cornello dully noted the tattoo on her upper chest and Lust pulled her fingers out of the dead Cornello's forehead.

"Aww when zings were starting to go zo well. Father zill be furious," Lust moaned, dramatically.

Gluttony just moved towards Cornello's corpse.

"Zo zhat should our next plan be …? Zey! I zought I zold zou not to eat zhat!" Lust said as Gluttony began to eat the dead body.

**To Be Continued … **

**I've finally brought in some of the actual bad guys! Yay! I'm looking forward to doing Envy and Greed but for now I have Lust and Gluttony. Here are my reasons for picking France and North Italy for those roles.**

**France as Lust is too good to pass up. However Fem!France makes more sense for later scenes in the manga. And besides this is France we're talking about. **

**Gluttony was harder because I needed someone who ate a lot and was child like. When looking over all the Hetalia characters I thought of Feliciano. My reasoning; have you seen the amount of pasta that he intakes? **

**My goal for this fic is to upload at least one chapter per week and I will try my best to reach that goal. **

**Any guesses on Mustang and his crew? Please send me any feedback on this story.**


	5. The Mining Town Part I

Chapter 5 – The Mining Town Part I

A train whistle blew at is sped past the land at a past pace. The train was empty other than the two who sat together at one booth.

"Looks like we're the only ones on board," Ludwig noted.

Gilbert looked up from the map he was looking at. "I've heard the rumors, but I didn't know it was this bad. Guess this isn't exactly tourist country. 'The town on the Eastern border' The Youswell Coal Mines."

XXX

"So this is where we get coal …" the albino muttered after getting off the train. "The Wild frontier, eh?" I thought a place like this would be a little more lively."

Everyone in the town moved slowly as if they needed more sleep.

"Everyone seems a little tired," Ludwig added.

A young boy maybe 12 walked past Gilbert and hit him on the back of the head with the piece of wood he was carrying.

"Oops! Sorry 'bout that," the boy said.

"Why you little …"

"_Hey_!" The boy seemed to realize something. "You're from out of town, right? On a trip?"

"Uh …"

"Where you from?"

"Well …"

"Need a meal?"

"Hold on …"

"A place to stay? Dad! We got customers!" The boy turned to yell at a tall man standing away a ways.

"Listen when people talk to you!" Gilbert yelled, annoyed at the kid for cutting him off.

"Huh?" The man asked. "What's that Khayal?"

"Customers! A piggy bank!" Khayal responded.

"What do you mean, 'Piggy Bank'!"

"You don't say," Khayal's father said with a grin.

XXX

Gilbert and Ludwig soon found themselves seated in an inn with other miners sitting around them.

"Sorry about the dust. The mines don't pay very much, so we run this inn to get by."

"What're talking' 'bout, Chief! Your problem is, you're a soft touch! Always giving what you make to the poor!"

"That's why your old lady's always crying!"

"Keep it down, you!" Chief yelled, holding two beers. "If you got a problem with how I spend my money, than hurry up and pay me what you owe me for the booze!"

"So, there's two of you … you want one night's stay and two meals each?" Chief's wife asked the brothers.

"How much?" Gilbert asked.

"What … afraid you can't afford it?" Chief asked.

"Don't worry, I brought enough."

"200 thousand!"

Gilbert then fell to the ground in shock.

"200 thousand? What a rip off!"

"I _said _you might not be able to afford it," Chief said. "We don't get too many tourists, so when they come we try to make sure that they leave us all their money."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Gilbert said, starting to leave. "We'll go somewhere else."

Chief grabbed the teenager. "There's no escape, Piggy Bank!"

"Forget it," Khayal added. "The prices are the same everywhere else."

XXX

"We really don't have enough," Gilbert muttered, looking at the amount of money that he and his brother had brought. The two were sitting on the floor without any miners near by. "I guess the only thing we can do us use alchemy to turn pebbles into gold!" he whispered.

"You know it's forbidden by the State Alchemy Laws to make gold!" his brother whispered back.

"If we don't get caught … we don't get caught," Gilbert reasoned.

"You're evil!" Ludwig responded.

They froze when they saw Khayal sitting next to them.

"Dad! This guy's an alchemist!" He yelled.

XXX

A broken ax sat on the table. Gilbert clapped his hands and placed them on the ax. Moments later the ax was fixed.

"This is great! Our first customer in ages, and he's an _alchemist_!

"I used to dabble a little bit myself," Chief said, holding a plate of food for Gilbert. "But I didn't really have the talent, so I gave up. I'll give you a special alchemist friendship discount."

"Sounds good!"

"All together, that's a 50% discount. 100 thousand!"

"That's still a lot!" Gilbert said, as he got ready to eat his meal.

"By the way, I didn't catch you name," Chief said.

"Oh yeah …? Gilbert Beilschmidt."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the plate was taken away. Gilbert looked up, surprised.

"So you're Beilschmidt the Alchemist … the State Alchemist?"

"We sort of …" Gilbert reached for his drink but it had been taken away as well.

"Hey what's the big deal?" He asked, annoyed.

"Get lost!" Yelled the miners as they kicked the brother's out.

"Hey! We're paying customers!" Gilbert yelled.

"Bleach! We don't have food or lodgings for dogs of the military!"

"Um, I'm a civilian," Ludwig said. "I'm not a 'state' anything."

"Oh, that's fine then! Come on in!"

"You traitor!" Gilbert yelled as his brother left him to go into the inn.

"Man, just when I thought we had a paying guest," a man said.

"What a let down …" another added.

"State Alchemists aren't too popular around here, are they?" Ludwig asked Khayal, from where he was sitting.

"Of course. Everyone here hates soldiers. This town's under the authority of Lieutenant Yoki, but all he cares about is making money."

"I heard he spends it all on brides to his superiors back in Central City," a miner said.

"He even bought he way to being a lieutenant," another added.

"Used to be, he just owned the coal mines, but he got greedy about movin' up," a third added.

"So this place is …" Ludwig started.

"Yup, this is Yoki's private property," the second man who had spoken said.

"That rat owns everything in this town! We don't get paid enough to get by!"

"Even if we complain to someone higher up on the chain, Yoki brides them all, so they won't help!"

"See? It sucks, huh?" Khayal said.

"And then there's the State Alchemists," Chief said. "'Alchemists work for the people.' That's the slogan of the Alchemists … the source of their pride," the man sighed. "I know they get a lot in exchange … but I can't forgive people who sell their souls to the military state."

XXX

Gilbert's stomach growled. He lay on a large work bench on his suitcase, mock sobbing.

"I'm hungry," he moaned. "Damn you, West … have you lost your humanity so soon?" He asked to no one.

A plate of food appeared in front of his face. He looked up to see his brother holding it.

"I snuck out with the food they gave me," Ludwig said.

"Dear bruder!" Gilbert said, hugging his brother, sobbing tears of joy.

"Gott, you're so predictable."

After calming Gilbert down and the albino had started eating, Ludwig told him about what he had learned about the miners and Yoki.

"Hmm … these corrupt official types are everywhere, huh?"

"I guess," the armor responded. "Thanks to this guy, they don't even get enough food supplies."

Gilbert stopped with a sandwich wrap half way to his mouth.

"… I see.

"That Lieutenant Yoki's causing a lot of trouble. I mean, military personnel like us aren't very popular to begin with. When I became a State Alchemist I knew I'd get a certain amount of flack, but I never knew they would hate me this much."

"Maybe I should get certified as a State Alchemist too," Ludwig asked after a small silence.

"It's not worth it!" Gilbert said with a pained grin. "One person sitting on this bed of needles is enough. 'Dogs of the Military', huh?" He asked glancing at his drink. "I don't know how to respond to that."

"Not only that, but we broke the Laws of Alchemy and now we're stuck with these bodies …" Ludwig said. "I wonder what our Teacher would say if she ever found out …"

There was a silence as they thought about what she would say and do to them if she ever did find out about what they had done.

"She …" Ludwig started.

"She'd kill us …!" Gilbert said in complete horror, shuddering.

"Out of the way! We're coming in!" A voice yelled, catching the brother's attention.

XXX

A thin medium sized man with black hair in a military uniform and two other men walked into the inn.

"Place looks filthy as usual, Halling," the man said.

"… Well, well, Lieutenant. What brings you to a shabby place like this?" Chief/Halling asked.

"Enough small talk," Yoki said. "I hear you're late on your taxes. I know you're not the only deadbeat in this town, but don't expect me just to ignore you."

"I'm very sorry, but we're barely getting by as it is …"

"Hmph … I see you can still afford to sell alcohol," Yoki said, looking around. "I guess that means I can lower your salary a bit more?"

"Wha-!"

"Why you …!" Khayal yelled, throwing a cloth in Yoki's face. "You better be joking!"

"You little brat!" One of the guards said. "Sir, allow me …!"

With a regretful look on his face, Yoki slapped Khayal in the face, knocking the boy off balance.

"Khayal!" His father yelled, seeing his son hit the ground, hard.

"I won't hold back just because he's a child," Yoki said as a guard pulled out a sword.

"Let this be a warning," the guard said, as he brought down the sword aiming at Khayal. He was stopped however by Gilbert's right arm blocking the sword.

"What? It broke …?"

"Wh … where did this kid come from!" Yoki asked.

"Just a kid passing through," Gilbert said.

"This is none of your business! Stay out!"

"Well, I heard that the Lieutenant was gonna be here …" the albino said as he was reaching into his pocket. "… So I decided to say hello." He pulled out a watch and showed it to Yoki.

"Eh? What's this?" He asked, rubbing his chin in thought. 'A silver watch with the president's crest and the hexagram!' His eyes widened as he remembered what that meant.

"Lieutenant, who _is_ this brat …?"

"You idiot!" Yoki said. "Don't you know what a State Alchemist is? They work directly for the President!" He whispered to the guard.

"You're not serious? Not that little runt!"

'I thought I heard "runt" …'

"This my chance …"

"Huh?"

"If I make an impression here, I might be able to make some connection at Central!"

"Wow, you're really on top of things, Lieutenant!"

"I'm sorry if my subordinates were impolite," Yoki said to Gilbert. "My name is Yoki, and I'm in charge of this town. It must be fate that we met here! There's no need for you to stay in this pig-pen!"

"What do you mean 'Pig-Pen'!" Khayal asked, angrily.

"Even though we're far from the city, we have some lovely rooms back at my house."

"Well, I guess that would be all right …" Gilbert grinned. "… Because the owner here is too _cheap_ to let the awesome me stay."

As Yoki and Gilbert left, the former turned to the people. "Listen, here, you lowlifes. I'm going to make you pay every penny of the taxes that you owe me. I'll be back!"

"Aaggh! That makes me so, _mad_!" Khayal yelled.

"Mad at who?" Ludwig asked. The younger brother had been quietly watching the entire thing while his brother had been talking to Yoki.

"Both of them!" The other miners yelled.

**To be continued …**

**I would like to say thank you to all of you who have reviewed my story. Also I might be using some ideas for APH characters as FMA characters, but if I did I'll remember to give you the credit! Just a small question from last chapter; do you guys think I over did it on Fem!France's accent? I just want to know for the next time I write him/her.**

**Well I got another chapter done in less then a day so I'm happy right now. **

**I'll try to get the next one up soon! **

**R&R please and thank you!**


	6. The Mining Town Part II

Chapter 6 – The Mining Town Part II

Yoki sat at one end of a long table while Gilbert sat at the other with a plate of food in front of him.

"There's no need to stand on ceremony, eat, eat!" Yoki said.

"You seem to eat very well," Gilbert noted. "Although the town as a whole seems less fortunate."

"Well, I'm embarrassed to say that it takes us a long time to collect taxes. Plus there are many thugs like the ones you saw earlier … aha ha, ha. It's all very embarrassing."

"The people pay you taxes because you own the rights to this place – that's how it works, isn't it?" Gilbert asked eating."

"Absolutely. You see matters rather clearly, Sir Gilbert."

"Of course. It's the same as Alchemy. The way of this world is _Equivalent Exchange_. You can't have rights without civic duty."

"True, true," Yoki nodded. "Yes, well spoken. So that means you'll accept _this_ as the way of this world …?" Yoki rang a bell and a man in a military uniform came in with a small bag on a cushion. "Sir Gilbert, as a State Alchemist I must imagine you must have some influence with those higher up. Please accept a token of my gratitude …"

"This is …" Gilbert picked up the bag, which had what sounded like coins in it. "… What some would call a _bribe _is it not?" He asked, almost looking bored.

"It's _gratitude_," Yoki replied. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a petty official in this country town. I'm sure we understand each other."

XXX

"Well then … Please have a good night's sleep," Yoki said to the albino.

"Thank you."

As the Alchemist was about to turn the corner a soldier walked over to Yoki, "Lieutenant Yoki … this isn't the first time we've have problems with Halling's Inn. Every night there's a bunch of loudmouths there, talking about stirring up trouble."

"Hmph. They've always been rather rebellious haven't they? What a bother …" Yoki said. "Burn it down."

Gilbert glanced backwards as he was led down the hall as though he had heard those very words.

XXX

A group of miners and the brothers stood outside the remains of Halling's Inn.

"How awful," a miner commented. "Last night I saw some of Yoki's underlings hanging out around the inn."

Halling stood next to his kneeling wife who was clutching the sign of the destroyed inn.

"Dammit … what a dirty thing to do …" The brothers turned to Khayal who sat near them. "… The reason dad tried to learn alchemy was because he wanted to save this town." He turned to Gilbert. "Hey, Gil. You're good enough to create gold, right? Can't you just whip up some gold to help my dad … and this town …!"

"No."

"Come on …" Khayal said. "… It's not like it's going to cost you anything!"

"The Foundation of Alchemy is _Equivalent Exchange_. Why should I give you free money?"

"Why you …" Khayal stood up and grabbed Gilbert's lapels. "You scumbag! You call yourself an alchemist?"

"'Alchemists work for the people' … right?" Gilbert asked shoved Khayal's hand off his lapels. "If I have you money now, it'd just end up as taxes in Yoki's vault. I don't feel like being used by all of you just to get by," he fixed his red coat. "If you're that desperate, then leave town and find another job."

"Kid, I know you can't understand," Halling said, ruffling his son's hair, "but the mines are our homes … and our graves."

Gilbert paused as he walked away before continuing his walk.

XXX

"Hey, big bruder! Hold on!" Ludwig ran to catch up with his brother who stood in front of a cart. "Are you really going to abandon these people?"

"West. How much clum do you think is here?"

Ludwig looked at the cart. "One ton … maybe two tons?"

Gilbert then started to climb up into the cart.

"Okay. I'm going to do something slightly illegal now so you just the other way for a second."

"… You want me to be an accomplice?" Ludwig asked.

"What, you won't?" Gilbert asked, clapping his hands.

"You're gonna do it even if I say no, right?"

Gilbert then started transmutating the clum.

"Aaah, if we don't get caught, we won't get caught."

"Aren't you supposed to set an example for me …?"

XXX

Yoki was much more than surprised and speechless when Gilbert had returned to his house, this time with his brother and many solid bricks of pure gold.

"Now … I'd like you to sell me the rights to the coal mines," the albino had asked.

"Is this real gold?" one soldier asked.

"It's not enough?" Gilbert asked turning to Yoki.

"P-P-Please don't be absurd!" Yoki said. "With this much gold I can say good bye to his miserable post …" 'and I'll bribe the higher-ranking officials at Central, and then …' he added in his head. "And also … um … if you don't mind …" Yoki added.

"Oh yes!" Gilbert said grinning. "Of course I'll put in a good word to my superiors."

"Oh, thank you, thank you! My dear alchemist!" Yoki said shaking Gilbert's normal hand.

"But making gold is illegal so … in order not to get caught, I would appreciate it if you would write a document saying 'the rights were peacefully transferred free of charge' …"

"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all! Well then, let's do the paperwork right away," Yoki agreed. "My, you really are a sly one, Mr. Alchemist, sir!"

"No, no, not compared to you lieutenant!" Gilbert agreed, smirking.

'Seems like they're enjoying it,' thought Ludwig who had been silently watching his brother and the lieutenant unnoticed.

XXX

"Why not, dad!" Khayal asked, slamming his fist onto a barrel. "Why can't we do it?"

"Because I said so," Halling said. "I won't allow a raid!"

"Even if you're against it, Chief, I'm still going," a miner said.

"Yeah, I've had enough," a woman agreed.

"Even if we fail, I'm gonna punch that rotten Yoki in the face at least once!" A second man said.

"No!" Halling yelled. "I can't allow all of you to become criminals!"

"But …!" Khayal started.

"Hi everybody!" An extremely cheerful Gilbert came through the door with his armored brother not far behind. "What a lot of gloomy faces! You're looking cheerful today!"

Everyone other than the brothers suddenly became even unhappier for some strange reason.

"… What are you doing here?" Khayal asked.

"Hey, hey. Should you be speaking like that to the new proprietor of this joint?" Gilbert asked.

"What the hell are y …?" The man was cut off by Gilbert shoving a bunch of papers into his face. "What's this …?"

"Ownership papers. They confer on the holder the rights to mining, sales, distribution, and all subsidiary businesses in this town," a smug Gilbert said.

"How did you get this …? _Hey_! And it says it's been signed over to _Gilbert Beilschmidt_!"

"_What_!"

"Correct," Gilbert said. "So from this moment on … this coal mine belongs to me!"

"No way!"

"Believe it. But we're just a couple of vagabonds going from place to place," Gilbert explained.

"These documents will just be in our way," Ludwig continued his brother's thought. "So …"

"You want to sell it to us?" Halling asked "How much?"

"What …?" Gilbert asked smirking. "Afraid you can't afford it? If you want something, you have to pay the price. After all, the deed is printed on high quality goatskin parchment, stamped with a gold seal. Not only that, but in a spectacular feat of craftsmanship, the deposit box is inlaid with powered jade. Hmm … this is the work of a true artist. And _hey_! The key is made of real silver!

"Well this is just a layman's opinion … but taking all of this into account," Gilbert said putting the papers on a barrel. "… How about the price of one night's stay and two meals for two at your place? Would that be fair, Chief?"

"Oh, the _Equivalent Exchange_," Khayal said. Halling laughed, slapping his hands over his eyes.

"You're right, that _is_ expensive! I'll buy it!"

"Sold!" Gilbert said, slamming his hand on the barrel.

At that very moment Yoki came in with two underlings and holding a handful of rocks.

"Mr. Alchemist, sir, what is the meaning of this!" He half yelled, half asked.

"Well, well, lieutenant, I just sold the deed to the mine to the chief here."

"Whaaat!" Yoki felt his jaw drop but recovered. "No, but that's not what I'm here for! The gold bars you gave me have all turned to rock! Can you please explain that!"

"… When did you change it back?" Ludwig whispered to his brother who had a devious look on his face.

"Right before I left," he replied in a whispered before stating loudly, "I don't know anything about any 'Gold Bars'."

"Please don't act dumb! We exchanged the pile of gold for the ownership documents. This is fraud!"

"Huh? The deed was given to me free of charge. See, you signed it!" He pointed at a spot on the paper. "It says so right here."

"This deal is null and void! You two!" He pointed at his guards. "Take those documents from them now! Huh?"

A heavily muscled miner stood in front of the three soldiers.

"It's not right to try and take someone's property by force."

"Abusing your power, eh?" Another added.

"Sh-shut up! Out of my way, scum! If you don't want to get hurt you better …" Yoki stopped when he saw the amount of miners in front of him.

"Lieutenant … it's not good to underestimate the strength of Coal-Miners."

Yoki watched as his guards were knocked unconscious.

"Oh, Lieutenant …?" Gilbert asked. "I'll be sure to tell the higher-ups about your _corruption _and _incompetence _too. So please look forward to it," the teenager had an innocent grin on his face as Yoki fell to his knees in despair.

"All Raaiight!" A miner yelled.

"We did it! Bring out the booze!" All of the miners were yelling and celebrating.

"Dad …" Khayal started. "Gil hadn't sold his soul after all."

"Yeah, I guess your right," Halling said, looking down at his son before turning to Gilbert who was being harassed by the Miners to drink the booze.

"Drink up! You'll never get big unless you drink!"

"Don't give alcohol to minors!" Personally Gilbert would love to drink the booze, but it was his brother who forced him not to, saying that it would be unfair if Gilbert got to drink and not him and the added rule that it was illegal to drink if you're not of age.

"What! When I was your age!"

XXX

"I can't eat another bite," Gilbert moaned, lying on his back on the floor. Almost everyone one had passed out. The only ones were the people who hadn't drunk (mostly women) and Ludwig.

"You're sleeping with your stomach out again!" Ludwig said. "Mein Gott, East! You're so sloppy!"

**To Be Continued …**

**Just a small note; while everyone calls Gilbert 'Gil', Ludwig calls him 'East' because it makes more sense for him to call his brother that if Gilbert calls him 'West.'**

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and faved this story. The more people respond to this story, the quicker I update.**

**Please R&R**


	7. Battle on the Train Part I

Chapter 7 – Battle on the Train Part I

A train sped by on a bridge over a river.

"Dad, we're going so fast! This is great!" A young girl sat with her brothers and parents in a private compartment.

"Ha, ha, ha!" The father, a tall blond man said. "Don't get too excited or you'll wear yourself out. Now remember … you promised that you'd play with me when we got there!"

"But what about you work dear?" His wife asked, looking at her husband.

"I finally got this vacation. I don't see the harm in forgetting work for awhile and spending time with my family."

The compartment door opened.

"You're General Hakuro, right?" A man asked, pointing a gun at the blond man.

"Who are you people? You're rude …"

"Sorry for disturbing your family gathering, General," another voice said. A man with an eye patch and black hair tied back entered the compartment. "The vacation's over. From here on, it will be a trip of trills and despair."

XXX

"The Hijacked Train was Limited Express No. 04840, departing from New Optain."

Two military officers were walking down a hallway. The one who had just spoken was a young woman with long blond hair tied in two pigtails with green eyes along with glasses. Her companion was a taller male with blond hair with a piece of hair sticking up and blue eyes with glasses.

"This is the work of the 'Blue Squad,' a group of eastern extremists," the woman continued in an accented voice.

"Any statements?" the man spoke for the first time.

"We received a manifesto. Would you like me to read it?"

"No, that's alright. Let me guess …" the opened the door into an office full of people rushing around. "I'm sure it's full of kind words for the military."

"Bloody wanker, how's he know …" the woman muttered, glancing down at her clipboard.

"They want us to release their leader. We've got him in prison," the man speaking had long light brown hair and green eyes.

"How predictable. So is the General really on board?"

"We've verifying that right now but that's a possibility," the male standing near the brunette had dark brown hair with a strand sticking up, glasses and violet eyes.

"Man, what's a hero to do? I got a date for this evening," the blond man said.

"It wouldn't hurt to have an overtime date with us once in a while," a man with light blond hair with a cross in it and dull blue eyes said, looking up from a paper.

"I guess the General's going to have to sacrifice himself so we can wrap this up right away," the first blond said, sighing.

"Colonel, I have a list of passenger's," the man with light brown hair passed the paper to the colonel who read over it.

"Ah … old man Hakuro is really on board with his family," the speaker had wild short blond hair and blue eyes and was reading from over the blond man with glasses' shoulder.

"Good grief … I'm sure he knew that the situation out East is unstable and yet he comes here for vacation …" his eyes fell onto something lower down on the paper's page. "… Hold on, everybody! The hero knows a way we can all go home earlier than we thought! _The Fullmetal Alchemist is onboard_," he finished smirking, looking up at his subordinate's faces.

XXX

Gilbert snored as he slept, lying on a seat while his being watched by his brother and two terrorists.

"… how can this brat sleep through all of this?" One asked poking the albino with his gun. "Hey! Wake up!"

All he got in return was a snore.

"Why you …" the terrorist said, "act more like a hostage, _you little runt_!"

Gilbert's eyes snapped open as he got off the seat, an angry look on his face.

"What? You got a problem or something?" The terrorist asked as the teenager put his hands on the gun and turned it into a trumpet. "What the hell is this!" He then yelled as Gilbert kicked him in the face.

Ludwig sighed, face palming.

The second terrorist pointed his gun at Gilbert. "That was dumb, kid," he said, "we were ordered to shoot all resisters. I don't want to shoot a runt like you, but …" he was stopped by Ludwig who grabbed the gun and pointed away from his brother and other civilians.

"Okay, okay, the two of you should just calm down."

"What?" He yelled at the suit of armor. "You want to fight us … too?" Gilbert than kneed him in the face and proceeded to beat the terrorist up.

"YOU CALL ME RUNT? A DWARF? A _LITTLE PERSON_!" Gilbert yelled.

"Big bruder! Big bruder! If you don't stop, he'll die!"

Gilbert stopped, holding the man by his shirt and thought for a bit before turning to his brother pointing at the man.

"So, um … who are these guys?"

Ludwig sighed think; 'So he was just subconsciously reacting to the world "runt" …'

After filling Gilbert in on what had happened during his nap, the elder Beilschmidt turned to questioning the two now captive terrorists for information.

"Besides us, there are two more in the engine room and four more in the first-class car guarding the General," the second terrorist said. "There are four in the coach car standing guard in different locations."

"And the rest?" Gilbert asked, holding up a fist with his metal arm.

"That's it! Really! There's no more!" The tied up terrorist said, panicking.

The other passenger's were angry at the brothers.

"There's still ten more of them!"

"What're you going to do now? When they hear about you beating up their men, they might come to retaliate …!"

"If _somebody_ was more mature, this might have ended peacefully …" Ludwig said, giving his brother a pointed glare, sighing.

"_You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past_!" Gilbert yelled, annoyed. "What's done is done. I'll go above. West, you take them from below."

"Ja, ja."

"Wh-who are you guys?" A man asked as Gilbert started to climb out of the window. The albino turned to face the passengers.

"We're Alchemists," he answered with a grin.

After one small accident with the wind pressure that nearly blew Gilbert off the train, the State Alchemist stood on top of the train and looked around.

"… Hup. Well, then, why don't I give it a shot!" He said, starting to run on the train top.

XXX

A terrorist stood up a phone booth on the train.

"Hey, weird! Our men in the back aren't responding," he said, hanging up. "I'll go check it out."

"Alright," another terrorist replied.

The first man started walking towards the rear cars.

"… man … they're supposed to call in to report …" he looked up to see a large suit of armor standing in front of him. He yelled, firing rounds from his gun at Ludwig.

"Wait a sec … it's gonna ricochet …" Ludwig warned and sighed when the terrorist cried out in pain, grabbing the leg which now had a bullet wound. "Oh … I'm too late, huh?"

The second terrorist came out to where Ludwig was. "Hey what's … the big … Yaah!" He yelled and fired his gun at the armor.

"Th-the ricochet! _Aggh_! Are you guy's stupid?"

XXX

"Hey Bald," a man turned to the dark haired terrorist. "Contact with the rear cars has ceased. What does that mean?"

"… There's someone onboard," Bald replied.

"That's ridiculous. We took care of all the guards and we've cut all communication to the outside. There's no way a passenger could ever call for help …"

"Did one of us turn traitor?"

"Couldn't be?"

"Hmph," Hakuro said. "You're nothing but a bunch of trash. You fall apart as soon as you little plan starts to go wrong. Things aren't going how you want. Now's the time to start thinking about surrender … you slime."

A gun shot rang throughout the compartment and the two children screamed as Hakuro grabbed the part of his ear where he had been shot.

"Don't speak until spoken to," Bald said, showing from under his coat that his left arm was an auto-mail gun. "Next time the hole won't be so little," he paused hearing something on the roof and fired his gun several times.

**To be Continued …**

**Well let's see America's as Mustang and his group as appeared. I would like to thank SilverTrain for some of her ideas for Mustang's group. Even if you know who is who I'll give you the names; First Lieutenant Alice Kirkland ****(Fem!England), Second Lieutenant Simon Densen (Denmark), Second Lieutenant Lukas Bondevik (Norway), Warrant Officer Roderich Edelstein (Austria), Sergeant Major Toris Laurinaitis (Lithuania) and Colonel Alfred F. Jones (America). Just a warning; some characters will have other parts in this story (some genderbent, some not just to warn you if you see a repeat of a character)**

**I also hope that I have done every character justice in this story. This is my first time writing most of these characters like Denmark and Norway so I really hope I didn't make it OOC. **

**I would also like to say that I am glad at all of the positive feedback. Also just to let all of you know the next two chapters are almost done being typed up so the next chapter should be up tomorrow evening at the earliest.**

**Well thank you to everyone who has read this story and enjoyed it. **


	8. Battle on the Train Part II

Chapter 8 – Battle on the Train Part II

A cry of "Ow!" and several loud thumps came from above the room. Bald looked up and to where the thumps seemed to go to.

"It's a rat," he said and pointed at another terrorist. "Go check above."

At the caboose of the train, Gilbert grabbed his left leg panicking. Taking off his boot it showed a bullet lodged in the bottom of his metal foot. He picked out the bullet, holding it in his hand.

"Man … if it weren't my left leg, I would've been gone. Dammit! Just you wait … first, I'll recapture the engine room!"

XXX

The two workers in the engine room worked, being carefully watched by two blond terrorists. The one with the moustache noticed a small object fly past him in his line of sight and land on the floor.

As he picked it up, he missed the teenager who stuck his tongue out at him from the other side of the window. He stood up, holding a small bullet in his hand.

"A bullet?" the terrorist asked looking at his companion.

"Where did that …?" the second terrorist was cut off by a boot hitting his head from behind. He fell to the ground, unconscious as Gilbert landed in a crouch on the ground.

As the first terrorist moved to fire his gun at the albino, the teen was greatly surprised to see the two engine workers attack the man with their shovels.

Gilbert gave the workers a thumbs up which the men returned.

"Anything I can do for you?" The driver asked Gilbert as the teen was climbing up the side of the train to reach top.

"Just drive safely, please!" He said. "Hup …" his eyes widened as he saw a man with a gun waiting for him to reach the top.

"There you are, _you rodent_," with that he fired bullets at the albino who somehow managed to both dodge the bullets and stay on the train.

The sounds of something being transmutated were heard as Gilbert yelled, "_Th-that was dangerous, you jerk_!"

A cannon ball was fired at the terrorist who managed to fall back into the train.

"Hey! What are you doing to the tender car! That's got the water and the coal for the whole train!" The driver yelled, shaking his fist at Gilbert.

"Oh! The awesome me says sorry!" Gilbert yelled back before muttering, "The tender car?" He began to picture what the tender car and the coal cart on the train would look like in his mind before grinning. He had gotten an idea with this 'bad idea' look on his face which normally would worry his younger brother.

XXX

"_Bald_! That's no _mouse_!" The terrorist that Gilbert had fired a cannon ball at said to the leader. "I don't know who he is, but there's some crazy guy up there …!" The terrorist added, looking panicked.

"Hey, car No. 2!" A dark skinned terrorist said on the phone. "What going on! Hey!"

"_Help … there's a huge suit of armor …" _interference was ruining what the terrorist on the second car had to say.

"_Armor!_ What are you talking …."

"_Aggh …!_" With a few yells and screams form the other line, the phone went dead.

Everyone looked up as a speaker that looked somewhat like Gilbert's head popped out of the wall.

"What the …?" The Terrorists wondered.

"_Hello, hello!" _Gilbert's voice rang out from the speaker. "_Calling all hijackers. We have recaptured the engine rooms and the rear cars. This car is the only one left. Please lay down your arms and let the hostages go … if not, we will have no choice but to use force._"

"What a joke!" Bald yelled. "I don't know who you are, but as long as we have the hostages, we'll never give up!"

"_Oh my, you're still going to resist?_" Gilbert asked. "_Too bad … talks over. __**Bye**_."

A water pipe appeared under the speaker.

"Is that a water pipe …?"

Gilbert's voice rang out again. "_All passengers, please take cover_."

Bald's eyes widened as he realized what Gilbert's plan was.

"RUN FOR YOUR …" He was cut off by the huge amount of water to come out of the pipe and drenching all of the terrorists. Gilbert had transmutated a pipe reaching from the tender car to the front car. As the terrorists made it to the car where Ludwig was, he opened the door allowed them in. Once the water was mostly gone, Ludwig punched his fists together saying, "_Welcome_," in a menacing tone.

"Man … it's the big suit of armor …" a terrorist said looking up at the armor.

Back in the front car, Bald began to stand up, "We're not through! We still got the hostages ..."

Gilbert jumped down from the ceiling, turning his arm into a blade. "Well, well … someone else with an auto-mail arm?"

"_You're just a little brat!_" Bald yelled as Gilbert slammed the blade into his gun/arm.

"You know …" Gilbert asked. "… You bought the cheaper model, didn't you?" Bald noticed the hand which had landed on his shoulder. Just as he was about to turn around to see who it was, Ludwig punched him from behind while Gilbert cut off half of his auto-mail arm.

XXX

The train landed in Central station as planned. Several military men were there to pick up the terrorists. As Gilbert and Ludwig were walking through, a voice rang out;

"Hey, Fullmetal," it was the blond colonel from the office where the military had been trying to figure out what to do. Behind him were the blond woman and the man with wild hair. The colonel grinned as he waved at the extremely unhappy teenager.

Gilbert made a face while Ludwig returned the greeting.

"What's with the unhappy face?" The colonel asked, knowing the answer before Gilbert said it.

" #$% … I wouldn't have helped out if I knew it was in _your_ district!" Gilbert said to the blond who sighed, almost sadly at the albino.

"You still don't like me … huh," he asked.

In the background Ludwig and the woman were exchanging greetings.

"Guten Tag, First Lieutenant Kirkland."

"Hello, Ludwig."

"I guess you're still not back to normal," the colonel noted looking over the brothers.

"I'm researching the ancient texts, but nothing yet … the awesome me pulled an all-nighter the other night," Gilbert started. "Right now we're been searching East City but we still haven't found anything that might work."

"I'm heard the rumors. It seems you're causing quite a commotion," the blond colonel said.

"I guess you're as nosy as never."

"Frankly, it's not hard to hear about you. Even if I am the hero."

Guards were yelling and ordering people to stop Bald, who had had a gun hidden in his arm and had attacked the guards.

"Whoa," Gilbert said. "It's a concealed knife."

"Please, stand back, colonel," Alice Kirkland said, pulling a gun out. The colonel pushed her back, holding up a gloved hand.

"I'll take care of this," he said and as Bald ran towards him, he snapped his fingers and fire flew from his gloved hand which had a transmutation circle on it. Bald screamed and fell to the ground in pain as guards grabbed him and the terrorist now covered in burns.

"I took it easy on you," the colonel said. "If you try to resist again, I'll turn you into ash, got it?" His voice sounded surprising serious as he said that.

"You damn … who the hell are you!" Bald asked.

"Alfred F. Jones. Rank: Colonel," the blond said. "And one more thing. _I'm the _Flame Alchemist_. Don't forget that._"

**To Be Continued …**

**Well I got volume 1 done and I'm so happy. Alfred's been formally introduced and the brothers are now in Central. **

**Reasoning for Mustang/America: They're both lazy and have someone to force them to work. Also can you see America with Flame Alchemy? It's a scary thought – America with the ability to burn things. Also I just realized something important. America thinks he's the hero. Roy Mustang is a war hero. By default America is actually the HERO! Seems like America wasn't really lying whenever he called himself the hero, eh?**

**I'll try to have the next chapter up, but god dammit it's so hard! It is actually harder than it looks to write Denmark while trying to keep the lines mostly the same, but making so the character is still in character. It also goes for other characters as well. Hopefully I'll have the next few chapters up soon. **

**Also thank you for all the feedback! I've enjoyed reading the reviews and getting the ideas for the characters. Just thinking, is there anyone who wants to me to write America saying the imfamous 'Mini-skirt' line? **

**Please continue with you feedback. Also just to give a small hint, I've already got Hungary's part figured out, but she doesn't make an appearance just yet! **

**R&R**


	9. An Alchemist's Suffering Part I

Chapter Nine – An Alchemist's Suffering Part I

A solder looked at the circle where Alfred had used his flame alchemy.

"Whoa … that was amazing …" he commented.

"Hmm?" the blond with wild hair asked, reaching into his pocket for a lighter. "So you've never seen the colonel shoot fire before?"

"Oh! Second lieutenant Densen!"

"How in the world did he do that!" a second soldier asked.

"Well, the colonel's glove is made a special cloth. When you rub it together, it sparks," Simon Densen said. In the background Alfred and Gilbert were talking together. "The rest is just adjusting the oxygen level in the air around what you want to combust …" Densen lilt a cigarette, taking a deep breath. "… and then _boom_."

"I understand the logic behind it, but how …?"

"Alchemists are people who can do that. The little guy next to him is a State Alchemist as well."

"What!" the soldier glanced at Gilbert. "So he's the one who captured all the highjiackers?"

"Can you believe that …?" the first soldier said to the second as Alfred along with Gilbert and Ludwig left the station.

"I don't know … he can't be human …."

XXX

"You owe me for this one, colonel," Gilbert said smirking as he and his brother sat across from the colonel in the Flame Alchemist's office.

"Hearing you say that makes a chill run down my spine … all right. So what do you want?"

"You sure come right to the point," Gilbert said. "The awesome me needs to know more about Bio-Alchemy. Where can I go around here for more information? Like a library or an expert?"

"Right _now_? You sure are in a hurry …" Alfred sighed, getting out of his seat to a bookcase.

"My arm and leg aren't going to just grow back if I wait long enough."

"It's been a while since we saw each other … why don't we have something to drink – but not tea …"

"What's so fun about dining with _you_?" Gilbert asked as Alfred started looking through a bookcase for a certain file.

"_Umm_ … I know it's here somewhere …" Alfred muttered, ignoring the albino. "Here it is," he picked out a file and looked through it. "'_**Chimera**__: An artificial fusion created by alchemically "marrying" two genetically dissimilar life forms_.' In other words, there a Chimera researcher in this city," Alfred turned to the brothers. "Shou Tucker, the _Sewing-Life Alchemist_.

"He got his State Alchemist certification two years ago when he created a Chimera that could speak."

"It could _speak_?" Gilbert asked his eyes wide. "You mean it talked like a human. A _Chimera_?"

"It says that it did, but the hero wasn't in charge of the case, so I never actually saw the Chimera. It could understand human speak and it spoke …" Alfred looked further down on the file. "But all it said was … _'I want to die_.' After that, it refused to eat and died."

XXX

Alfred led the two brothers to a large house in East City and rang the bell for the front door. Gilbert was looking around the house noting that it was huge.

"What a huge place …" he said as Alfred stood by the door, waiting for it to open. He heard a rustling sound and turned towards the bushes. As a large object came bounding out of the bushes and jumped on Gilbert, you could hear his yell for miles.

"GYAAAAGGH!"

"Hey, Alexander. You stop that …!" A young child's voice said. Gilbert was flat on the ground with a huge dog on top of him, panting. At the door, stood a tall light haired man with glasses and a young girl with light brown hair in braids down her back. The man looked to be in his late twenties while the girl looked roughly four or five. "Wow, daddy! Lots of guests!" The girl said.

"Nina, I _told_ you to keep the dog tied up," Tucker said, sighing. He invited the alchemists in his house, glancing at the mess.

"I apologize for the mess. It's been like this since my wife left me …" he said, sitting down. "Nice to meet you, Gilbert. I'm Shou Tucker. The one they call the _Sewing-Life Alchemist_."

"Gilbert's interested in Biological Alchemy. I, as the hero, told him you might be able to show him your research," Alfred said, motioning to the albino.

"Oh, I don't mind …" Tucker said. "… But if want to see what's up my sleeve, first you have to show me what's up _yours_. So, why are you interested in Biological Transmutation?"

"_Um_ … well, he's …" Alfred was looking for an excuse when Gilbert held up a hand.

"Mr. Tucker has the right to an answer," he said as he took off his black jacket that he always wore under his long red coat.

Tucker was at a loss for words when he saw Gilbert's Auto-Mail arm. "So … that's why you're called the _Fullmetal Alchemist_," he said, looking surprised and shocked.

Then after Tucker had gotten over the surprise of the metal arm, the brothers told Tucker how they came to be how they were.

"I see," Tucker said after a silence, "so you lost your mother … that must have been hard."

Gilbert and Ludwig were quiet at that remark.

"I've told my higher ups that he lost his limbs in the civil war in the East. The hero must ask you to be quiet about his attempts at human transmutation."

"Sure," Tucker said, standing up. "No problem. I'm sure that the military couldn't afford to lose such a brilliant individual," he added. "Well then … let me show you my laboratory, although I'm not sure if it will be much help to you," he led the three to a room which had animals in cages. Some looked like they were mixes of two or more different animals.

"Ahh …." Tucker said, hand on his head, laughing softly. "You've got to excuse me … I'm supposed to be the authority on Chimeras, but in reality, it's never easy. Lots of failures … lots of false starts," moving through the room, he opened another door. "This is my file room."

The room was large with a lot of books and papers in it. Gilbert admired it greatly.

"This is _incredible_," he said, looking at the amount of books.

"Feel free to look around. I'll be in the lab," Tucker said.

"All right then," Gilbert stated, talking like only he and his brother were the only ones in the room. "I'll start with this shelf."

"Ja, I'll start from over there," Ludwig added.

"All right, you two," Alfred said, cleaning his glasses. "I have to get back to work. I'll send some of my men to get you before dark."

The younger brother thanked the blond quietly as Gilbert was reading a book and ignoring every one in the room.

"… He has an amazing ability to focus, when he's ding, he doesn't even hear the voices around him," Tucker noted.

"Yes, well you know he's not average, becoming a State Alchemist so young," Alfred said.

"I guess … geniuses really to exist," Tucker said, looking at the albino.

XXX

GONG.

The clock in the room rang and Gilbert finally looked up from the pile of books that he was reading.

"Uh-oh," he said, glancing at the time. "I didn't realize what time it was … West!" He called to his brother who had seemed to have disappeared. "Ludwig! Where are you?"

He stood up and sighed. "I wonder where he went …"

Before he knew what had happened, he was on the floor, trapped under Alexander the dog again.

"Oh, Hallo bruder," Ludwig said, turning the corner to see his brother in his floor. Nina – Tucker's daughter – was sitting on his shoulder, grinning.

"What do you mean, '_Hallo bruder_'?" Gilbert asked, angered. "You're supposed to be looking through the data, not _baby-sitting_!" He yelled.

"Well, Nina got bored and needed something to do, so …" Ludwig started to explain.

"_WHY YOU_ …!" Gilbert started to yell at his brother when Nina interrupted him.

"Hey, big brother! Alexander says he wants _you_ to play with him _too_!" Nina said as Alexander began to lick Gilbert's face while Gilbert was glaring at his brother and the dog.

"_Hmph_," Gilbert said, wiping his face with a cloth. "You've got a lot of nerve asking me to play with you, dog," he added. "They say that catching a mere rabbit takes every bit of a lion's strength … JUST TRY TO SIT ON ME AGAIN, YOU CANINE FIEND! I, GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT, WILL FIGHT YOU WITH MY ENTIRE BODY AND SOUL!" He yelled chasing after Alexander while Ludwig sighed, thinking that his brother was being immature. Nina just laughed grinning at the sight.

A few hours later, there was a knock at the door. Densen stood there, waiting. "Hey, Chief, I'm here to pick you up."

He then looked at the sight of Gilbert stuck under Alexander for the third time that day.

"… Mind if I ask what you're doing?" the lieutenant then asked.

"Uh … well, I guess you could say I'm just taking a little break from research!" Gilbert said, quickly, standing up.

"So did you find any useful data?" Tucker asked. Gilbert's mood became even gloomier than before when he caught being overpowered by a mere dog. "… You can come back tomorrow," Tucker said, getting the message.

"Are you gonna come back tomorrow?" Nina asked the armored brother who nodded.

"Ja."

"Oh, Mr. Tucker," Densen said. "I have a message from the colonel. He said, 'Please don't forget that the assessment date is coming up.'"

Tucker was silent for a moment before saying; "… Yes, I know."

After the three had left and Tucker was bolting the door, Nina asked, "Hey daddy, what's an 'assessment'?"

Tucker turned to his daughter.

"Well, sweetie … when you become a State Alchemist you have to show the results of your research once a year. And if they don't like how you're doing, they take away your license. Daddy's evaluation wasn't very good last year … so unless I do something great this year, I won't be a State Alchemist anymore."

"_Whaaat_? You'll do great, daddy! You're always studying a lot!" Nina yelled, hugging her father.

"I know, sweetie. But if they don't like me, there's nothing left that I can do … That's right … there's nothing else I can do …"

XXX

"Hmm … so your mom left two years ago?" Gilbert asked the next day when Nina was sitting in the file room with the brothers.

"Uh-huh. Daddy said she went back to her parent's house," Nina said.

"Really? It must be lonely in his big house with just your father," Ludwig said to the young girl.

"No, it's not!" Nina said. "Daddy's nice to me, and I have Alexander too!" Then her mood shifted. "Lately Daddy's always in his laboratory with the door locked … so it's a _little_ lonely," she muttered.

Gilbert had an unreadable look on his face as he heard that.

"Ahh, man," he moaned as he shifted. "All this reading is making my shoulders cramp up. Day after day …" he whined.

"Exercise is the best cure for shoulder cramps, bruder."

"You're right," Gilbert said standing up. "I guess I'll work out a little in the yard," he then pointed at Alexander. "Hey, Dog! I'll play with you for exercise!" He said.

"Come on, Nina," he other added. "You too."

Nina grinned and laughed.

She watched with Ludwig as Gilbert and Alexander chased each other around the yard and laughed when Alexander landed on Gilbert, pinning him to the ground time after time.

Meanwhile, Tucker sat in his darkened laboratory, looking stressed about something and he glanced out of the window at where he daughter was playing with the two brothers.

**To Be Continued …**

**First off, I would like to wish everyone a happy late Canada Day and a Happy Independence Day for all you Americans. **

**Secondly, this chapter took longer than I had hoped for many reasons. First off, were my final exams which took up mid-June. Next came when my family – minus me – went camping and my sisters took my FMA books without my permission and so it took me a while to actually type this up. But the next chapter will be up soon, I can promise that. **

**And because people have been saying they've wanted to hear the Mini-Skirt line from America – here it is! **

"That's a stupid question, Densen," Alfred said to the other blond man. "I say it because it's true. When I become Fuhrer, they'll be changes," the colonel's tone changed. "That day, all female officers will be required to wear …" he took on a heroic pose. "… TINY MINISKIRTS!"

Densen began hugging Alfred's leg saying, "You're a miracle, Jones! I'll follow you forever!"

Alice on the other hand, just sighed.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise I'll update sooner. I was half tempted to make Belguim Nina, but I couldn't make Netherlands Tucker no matter how hard I tired. So I kept them the same. **

**Please read and Review. **


	10. An Alchemist's Suffering Part II

**Bold** is when Nina/Alexander is speaking

Chapter Ten – An Alchemist's Suffering Part II

The sky was dark with storm clouds and the two brothers could hear thunder as they waited outside Tucker's house.

"It's gonna rain for sure today," Gilbert noted, looking at the darkening sky.

"Hallo …?" Ludwig asked as the brothers entered the dark house. "Mr. Tucker? It's us again."

The house was empty as the brothers walked through, looking for the father and daughter.

"Maybe they're not home," Gilbert said.

"Mr. Tucker?"

"Mr. Tucker?"

"Nina?"

As they passed the alchemist's laboratory, Gilbert noticed the open door and saw Tucker kneeling on the ground in front of something.

"Hey, there you are," Gilbert said, coming towards the open door.

"Oh, it's you guys," Tucker said, not turning from whatever he was looking at. "Look, it's my newest creation," he added as he stood up. The brothers opened the door and stood in shock.

"_It's a Chimera that talks like a human_," he proudly said.

The Chimera was dog shaped with dog ears and a dog like body. It also had long almost hair like fur falling down the back, onto the Chimera's sides and some was falling into its face. The body was mostly a light sandy color but the hair-like-fur was a light brown.

"Watch this," Tucker said, kneeling again. "This person is Gilbert," he pointed at the albino. "Understand?"

The Chimera flicked it tail as it tilted its head.

"**Gil … bert**?" It asked like it was a child just learning how to speak. Tucker patted it on the head, smiling.

"That's right. Very good."

"**Veh … ree … good?**"

"I can't believe it. It really talks," Gilbert said, still in a degree of shock.

"Uh-huh," Tucker said, sighing in relief. "I'm glad I made it in time for the assessment. This just saved my neck. And when the grant money kicks in, I won't have to worry about research costs for a while …!"

Gilbert was not listening to the other State Alchemist as he knelt down to look at the Chimera that was speaking.

"**Gilbert. Gilbert**," it said over and over again. "**Gil … bert. Gilbert**," suddenly it started to say something else. "**Big … bruh … ther …**"

Gilbert froze when he heard that. Quickly his mind came up with a possibility as to why both Nina and Alexander were missing. After all, Nina clearly loved her father and would want to be there to see the Chimera.

"Mr. Tucker?" Gilbert asked in a small voice. Tucker turned to Gilbert. "When was it that you got your license? By making the first Chimera that spoke human words?"

"_Uh_ …" Tucker thought for a moment. "That was about two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave?"

"… That was also two years ago too," Tucker added.

"Can I ask you one more question?" Gilbert asked. His face was turned away from Tucker who nodded.

"_What happened to Nina and Alexander_?" Gilbert turned to face Tucker, standing up. His brother had just realized what Gilbert had meant and Tucker looked somewhat upset.

"_I hate perceptive brats like you …_" Tucker said sadly, and was cut off by Gilbert grabbing the front of his shirt and pinning the elder man to the wall.

"Bruder!"

"_So that's what happened_!" Gilbert yelled. "YOU SCUM … HOW COULD YOU! TWO YEARS AGO IT WAS YOUR WIFE! THIS TIME YOU MAKE A CHIMERA OUT OF YOUR OWN DAUGHTER AND A DOG!"

Ludwig glanced towards where Nina/Alexander was sitting, quiet.

"Isn't that right? Because there's only so much you can do by experimenting on animals. Human are _so much_ better. _Am I right_?" Gilbert asked.

"Why are you so mad?" Tucker asked. "The progress of medicine … the progress of human knowledge … is the _result_ of experimenting on humans. Someone has to do it. As a scientist … you should be the first to …"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Gilbert's temper was getting the better of him. He was not one to make friends easily and he had actually somewhat liked Nina and felt anger at the fact that she had been turned into a Chimera by her own _father_. A man who was supposed to love her and care for her. Not that he had much experience with fathers, but still. "Do you think you're going to get away with this? Playing around with people's _lives_?"

"People's lives?" Tucker asked, laughing. "_Ha, ha_! Yes, people's _lives_! _You're_ the _Fullmetal Alchemist_! You mean like you're _brother's _life … and your _arm_? That's also the result of 'playing around with people's lives,' yes?" Tucker added and Gilbert's short temper exploded as he punched Tucker in the face as the mad man laughed. "You and I are the same!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Gilbert yelled.

"You're not different than _I _am! You thought you could do it, so you _did_!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

"You couldn't help but try it even if it _was _forbidden! In fact, _because_ it was forbidden!" Tucker groaned as Gilbert's metal arm hit him again.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" The teenager punched the insane alchemist every few words. "WE ALCHEMISTS …" Punch, "WOULD NEVER DO THAT …" Punch, "WE'D NEVER …" Another punch. "I'D NEVER …!" He moved his metal arm back to hit Tucker again when it was grabbed in an iron hold.

"Gilbert," Ludwig said. "Any more and you'll kill him," Gilbert panted looking up at his younger brother and let go of Tucker's shirt allowing the bloodied man to fall to the ground. The suit of armor let go of his brother's arm and turned around.

"_Ha, ha_ …" he laughed. "Pretty words don't get anything done …"

Ludwig turned back to the State Alchemist.

"Mr. Tucker. _If you say one more word, this time I'll be the one to snap_."

Ludwig said it in such a tone that Tucker had no doubt that the younger would complete his threat and stayed silent.

After that, the suit of armor knelt down next to Nina/Alexander.

"Nina … I'm sorry that this had to happen to you and I'm sorry that we can't change you back to normal."

"**Wanna … play**," the Chimera chanted. "**Wanna play. Wanna play**."

XXX

"If there were truly was 'the Work of the Devil,' then this was it," Alfred said as he exited Tucker's house with Alice following him. It was raining and the brothers were sitting on the stairs, silent. "'The Devil …?' To put it bluntly _all_ State Alchemists – even the hero – are nothing but the military's human weapons. We do what they want, we obey orders (even crazy ass stupid ones) and we don't complain (out-loud, anyway) if our hands get dirty in the process. My point being that when it comes to messing with human lives, Tucker's actions aren't so different from our own."

"That is the logic of an adult," Alice said. "Even though Gilbert clearly acts as though he is older than he is, he is still a child."

"Yes, but the path that he's chosen will no doubt lead to hardships greater than he faced today," Alfred sighed. "He has to move forward … even if it means forcing himself to understand. The Hero, which I am of course, knows that much. Isn't that right, Fullmetal?" He stood a few steps away from Gilbert who ignored him. "How long do you plan on staying depressed?"

"Be quiet," Gilbert snapped.

"Even though people call you a 'Dog of the Military' and a 'Devil,' it was _you_ who chose to keep studying alchemy. You _chose_ to join the military, when you could have lived the rest of your life with the body you have. Can you afford to be held back by something so small?"

"'Something so small …?' Gilbert asked, his fists, clenching. "You're right (for once bastard). People may call us Dogs or Devils, but West and I will get our original bodies back. But we're not Devils or Gods. _We're human_," Gilbert stood up, angered. "_We can't even save one little girl_. We're just pathetic human beings …!"

"Go home and rest," Alfred said at the bottom of the stairs with Alice behind him. "You'll catch a cold."

XXX

Two military men stood guard in front of Tucker's house. Foot steps were heard as one turned to see a man walking towards them.

"Oh … you're here to see Mr. Tucker?" One asked. "Unauthorized individuals aren't allowed past this point."

"If you have some business …"

The man held up a hand and started to make a fist.

"_I'm going through_."

Meanwhile in a large room Tucker sat at a chair, looking at the creature that he had made out of his daughter and dog.

"Why doesn't anymore understand?" Tucker asked. "Why, Nina?" The alchemist could hear thunder outside from the storm. Suddenly he looked up to see a man at the door to the room. All he could see of him was a yellow jacket, a white shirt and black pants.

"Are you Shou Tucker?" The man asked.

"Why are you?" Tucker asked. The man stepped forward. "What do you want with me? You're … you're not with the army. How did you get in! There were guards outside …" The alchemist almost sounded like he was panicking.

The man stepped in front of Tucker, so the madman could see his face. It was of a dark skin color with white hair. He wore tinted glasses and had an X-shaped scar on his face.

"_Alchemists who have strayed from the path of God … Must die!_"

Before Tucker knew what had happened the man had grabbed his face and did something that made blood come out of places on his body and fell to the ground. Shou Tucker, the _Sewing-Life Alchemist_, was dead.

Nina/Alexander stepped forward and sniffed the hand of her late father which was being surrounded by a pool of blood.

"**Da-da**," she said. "**Daddy, daddy, daddy**."

"… How awful," the man said, looking at the Human/Animal Chimera. "Now that he's done this to you, there's no way to change you back to normal," he placed his hand on the Chimera's head. "At the very least, Go in Peace."

A few minutes later, he stepped back out into the rain.

"My Lord. Lord God, who created everything in this world … two souls have now returned to your side. Please take pity on them … and grant them forgiveness and peace in your loving embrace," it seemed weird that the murderer would pray to God after killing two people.

The man reached for his glasses and took them off to reveal red eyes.

In a house in the same city, sitting alone in his room, Gilbert sat up in bed, listening to the storm, dark thoughts clouding his mind.

**To Be Continued …**

**Wow … writing that scene with Gilbert and Tucker was so … so … I can't really explain it other than that I could actually feel like I was there, watching it and the fact that once I started writing it, I couldn't stop. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next is almost done being written.**

**Now, Scar is an interesting character. He's also badass which is a reason why I kept him the same character. Also was the fact that I could find no one that could fit his character. **

**In the next chapter, we are introduced to some new characters, one which I am gonna have so much fun writing. **

**Until then, please read and review! **


	11. The Right Hand of Destruction Part I

Chapter Eleven – The Right Hand of Destruction Part I

"Mom! Mom!" A young boy's yell rang throughout the garden. The tall, beautiful brown haired woman turned to see her son running towards her with something in his hands. "Mom, come look!"

"What is it, Gilbert?" She asked, smiling. The albino child stood in front of her as his mother knelt down to see what he was holding.

"It's a present!" He said, holding out a toy horse he had made.

"Oh, for _me_?" Trisha asked. "Where did you get this?" She asked, holding the toy.

"I _transmuted_ it! I put it together with _Alchemy_!" Gilbert said proudly.

"Y-you _did_? I guess you _do_ take after your father!" Trisha said and patted his head. "Thank you, Gilbert. You really are special. Being able to create something so wonderful … but it's too bad …

"… You couldn't put me back together too," Gilbert's eyes widened as his mother had blood running down her face and coming out of her mouth.

The toy fell to the ground.

Gilbert's eyes snapped open and he sat up in his bed, sweat running down his face and panting from his dream.

He gripped his metal leg and muttered. "It hurts …"

XXX

A few hours later Gilbert and Ludwig stood in the Military headquarters outside of a large door.

Gilbert looked like he was going to open it before he turned on his heel to walk away.

"Gilbert?"

Said alchemist turned to see Alice opening the door.

"Oh … First Lieutenant Kirkland."

"What are you doing here so early?" She asked, stepping out of the room.

"I wanted to know … what's going to happen to Tucker and Nina?"

Alice was silent for a moment.

"Tucker was scheduled to have his license revoked and then taken to Central to be put on trail … but they both died," the brothers were silent before she continued, "or to put it more accurately, they were killed. You guys would have found out eventually, even if we tried to hide it, so I might as well as tell you now."

"What … why …? _By who_!" Gilbert asked, running to catch up with the woman.

"I don't know," she replied, putting on a jacket. "I'm on my way to the location right now."

"_I'm coming too_!" Gilbert yelled.

"No."

"_Why not_?"

Alice stopped before turning to the teenager.

"It's better that you don't see."

XXX

"Hey, hey, Colonel Jones," a man with slightly tanned skin, light brown hair and green eyes said. "We came to get Tucker_ alive_," his companion was a tall man with a moustache and a blond hair curl. "_Are you telling us to put this corpse on trial_, amigo?" He pointed at a sheet over a body. "Man, we didn't come all the way out here to do an autopsy."

"Lieutenant Colonel Carriedo … you need not to remind us of our mistake. Please, could you just take a look, as a favor to the hero?" Alfred asked, hand on the side of his forehead.

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo sighed before reaching towards the sheet which was stained with blood. 'The blood is almost the color of ripe tomatoes,' he thought as he said, "If this guys really used his own wife as an experiment … it must have been divine justice, amigo," he lifted the sheet to look at the body. "_Eww_ … just as it thought," he turned to Alfred. "Are the guards in the same condition?"

"That's right. They were in pieces … or getting that way … as though they were blown about from the outside," Alfred said, clearly disgusted.

"Are thinking what I'm thinking, Major Armstrong?"

The blond man nodded, "Yes, there's no doubt about it."

"_It's him_."

XXX

Two people stood at a window, watching as people were fighting, murdering and attacking each other, causing riots. Wounded people were everywhere and chaos was in the air.

"Look at zhat, Gluttony," Lust said. "Humans are such fools," she said.

"Veee, fools, fools," Gluttony agreed.

"Quite right," a third voice said. Coming up the stairs, was Father Cornello – who had been killed a few weeks earlier. "But when things work out like you plan them, that foolish quality can be _so_ nice."

"Well, well, 'Your Holiness,'" Lust said, smirking.

"Holy, holy."

"Sorry zou had to come out here," Lust said.

"Yeah, well … when this is over, I'm going back tot the city I'm in charge of."

"Really, I zas a bit worried when zhat Fullmetal boy messed up our plans … but as a result our work zhall be finished ahead of schedule zo he zas actually a big help."

"Heh … heh … yes …" Cornello laughed. "All it took was for you to spread some propaganda among my 'followers' to get them started and _this_ is the result."

"Humans really are such simple creatures."

"Bloodshed begets bloodshed. Hatred begets hatred. The rage and emotion sinks into the land and stains it with the crest of blood," Cornello said.

"No matter how many zimes zhey repeat themselves, zhey never learn. These sad fools …"

"That's why we can do anything to them, right?"

"Will a lot of people die again?" Gluttony asked, turning amber eyes onto the blond haired sin.

"Oui, I guess they'll die."

"Can I eat all the ones that die?"

"Non, zou can't eat them," Lust sat patting his head. "By the zay, Envy … how long zo zou plan on using zhat voice et body? It's making me sick."

Envy/Cornello grinned. "Come on, I'm just setting the mood, that's all," he spoke, he moved forward and the body was changing into an entire different body. "But if I'm going to change shape anyway … why should I be a crusty old geezer … when I can be, like totally, young and cute?"

The fake Cornello turned into a young man – or is it woman (I can't tell) – which straight chin length blond hair and green eyes. He wore a black tank top that showed his stomach and a skirt that was also shorts. He was also bare foot and on his left leg was a tattoo of the same sign that was on Lust's chest and Gluttony's tongue.

"Ohonhonhon …" Lust laughed. "Even on the inside you're zhe most ruthless of all of us," she laughed.

"Are you, like, trying to pick a fight, Lust?" Envy asked.

"Y-you're a monster!" Brother Cray yelled as he entered the room. "What's going on here? His Holiness … what happened to the _real_ Father Cornello? What in God's name _are _you?"

"… Zhat should ze do?" Lust asked.

"He, like totally, called me a monster. I am totally _so_ insulted," Envy added, looking insulted.

"Can I eat him?" Gluttony asked and the other two stared at him.

"By the way …" Envy asked Lust as the sounds of Gluttony eating the priest were in the background. "I heard that, like, someone killed that Shou Tucker from East City."

"Tucker, oh oui, the _Sewing-Life Alchemist_. Who cares? Ze was zust a minor alchemist anyway."

"I don't, like totally, care about Tucker. But, like, the killer … it's, like, that guy from before again," Envy said and Lust glanced at him.

"East City is zhere zhe Flame Colonel is, non?"

"Uh-huh. Apparently, like, the Fullmetal Runt is there too."

"Zhe Fullmetal Alchemist … it makes moi mad zhat he zot in zhe way of our work, but ze can't allow him to die. _He's our Human Sacrifice_."

"LUST!" Gluttony yelled. "That was tasty!"

"Wipe your mouth after zou eat," Lust told Gluttony who did that very thing.

"About, like, this man … I don't, like, know where he's from or who is he, but we, like totally, can't allow him to, like, interfere with the plan."

"All right … we've pretty much finished with zhis place, zo, I guess we'll take a look. Zhis killer of ours … zhat zas his name?"

XXX

"_Scar_?" Alfred asked.

"We don't know his name, amigo, so that's what we call him," Antonio said.

"Not only is his background a mystery, but we don't even know what kind of weapon he used or what his intentions are. It seems like he's everywhere. The only information we have about him is he has a large X-shaped scar on his forehead."

"This year alone, he's killed five alchemists in Central. In the county, he's killed about a total of ten."

"Yes, the hero has heard rumors about this man, out here in the East as well."

"Just, between you and me, amigo, I heard he killed old man Grand."

"Brigadier General Grand, the _Iron-Blood Alchemist_? He's a military martial arts expert!" Alfred said, shocked.

"It might sound crazy, but believe it or not, a guy this tough is the roaming the city. Let me give you some advice. Double the security and lay low for a while. I'm asking you as a friend," Antonio said to Alfred. "The only well-known people out in these parts are you and Tucker, right? With what happened to Tucker, you really can't let down your guard."

Something hit Alfred. "Oh no …"

"Huh? Hey! What is it?" Antonio asked.

"You!" Alfred pointed at a man. "Confirm whether the Beilschmidt Brothers are still at their lodgings. On the double!"

"Colonel …" Alice said. "I spoke to them as I was leaving H.Q. They were walking down the Main Street."

"At a time like this …" Alfred muttered, shaking his head. "Bring the car around! _All Spare hands to the Main Street area_!"

**To Be Continued …**

**This would have been up on Friday, but I was so busy packing for my weekend camping trip that I forgot about uploading this until I was about six hours away.**

**Personally, I hate writing Spain. I don't think I did him justice while I just loved writing Poland! He's just too much fun to write. **

**Hopefully, the next chapter will be up within a week but it's more likely it'll be up some time after that. **

**I would like to thank everyone who is reading this story and everyone who has favorited this story. You guys all mean a whole lot to me.**


	12. The Right Hand of Destruction Part II

Chapter Twelve – The Right Hand of Destruction Part II

Gilbert and Ludwig sat under a large clock with rain pouring onto them. Gilbert was looking at the ground, not caring that he was getting soaked.

"Bruder …?" Gilbert looked up at his brother when he heard the question in a low voice.

"Huh? Oh … my awesome head is so full of unawesome thoughts that I don't know what to think right now," the albino sighed. "Since last night I've been wondering what this Alchemy that we trust in really is …"

"'_Alchemy is the reconstruction of matter in new forms based on the knowledge of natural laws_,'" his younger brother recited.

"'_This world flows by obeying these laws. Death too, is a part of that flow. Accept the flow of the world. _Our teacher really beat that into us. I thought I knew what she meant," a sad note came into his voice for a second. "But I didn't. That's why Mutti … and that's why I'm wondering what I can do about something that nobody can fix," Gilbert brought his arms up to wrap around his legs in a comforting position. "I'm a fool. I haven't grown up at all since then," red eyes looked towards the sky as the teen allowed rain to fall freely onto his face. "I thought that the rain would wash away all my doubt … but all I know is that this rain on my face is starting to bug me …"

"I don't even have a body that can feel the rain," Ludwig said. "It's a lonely feeling," he clenched the fist he had been looking at. "I want to get my old body back … I want to go back to being _human_. Even if I means doing the impossible and going against the flow of the world."

A man in a military uniform seemed to be looking for something when he noticed the two brothers. "Oh! There they are. _Gilbert_!" He yelled, running towards them, passing a man with dark skin walking the opposite direction. "_Mr. Gilbert Beilschmidt_!"

"Beilschmidt …?" the dark skin man asked. "Gilbert … Beilschmidt …"

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!" The officer said as he stood in front of the brothers who had stood up. "We've been looking for you!"

"What is it? Do you need the awesome me for something?" Gilbert asked.

"You're to return to Head-Quarters immediately. There's a killer on the loose in this area …" While he had been speaking the dark skinned man – Scar – had moved to stand behind them.

"_Gilbert Beilschmidt_ … _The _Fullmetal Alchemist!"

The way that Scar had said his name worried Gilbert. The officer however moved to take out a gun.

"THAT SCAR!" He yelled and then all Scar did was put his right hand on the man's face, killing him. The dead man fell to the ground.

Gilbert's eyes widened as he stared at Scar as the murderer flicked the blood from his fingers.

'… _Who is this guy_?' Gilbert thought, still wide eyed. '_This is bad! Bad! BAD!' _the albino tried to move his legs, but he failed. '_Everything from the core of my awesome body says to run away but my legs are unawesomely not moving …!_ _Oh no …_' Gilbert realized as the man moved closer. _'I'm gonna die!' _

The clock rang as the minute hand hit the twelve and Gilbert pushed his brother, yelling; "West! RUN!"

"You won't get away," Scar growled at the two as the brothers took off down the wet street.

"What's _his_ problem?" Gilbert asked, almost to himself as he was trying to escape. "The Awesome Me has never done anything to make someone _hate _me …" he paused in his train of thought as he remembered something, "actually I've done that a lot, but … people as awesome as me don't deserve to die!"

"East!" Gilbert slid to a stop when he saw his brother standing in an alley. "In the alley!" Gilbert looked slightly confused but followed his brother and watched as his brother began to draw a transmutation circle.

"_What_!? He just saw us run into here!"

The only answer he got from his brother was him transmutating a tall wall to block the opening of the alley – to stop Scar from following them.

"Now, he can't come after us," Ludwig reasoned.

Gilbert nodded, seeing his brother's logic. However, it was flawed logic as Scar blasted a hole into the wall and stepped through it, towards the brothers. The murderer glared at the brothers, who at that moment decided that it would be in their best interest to get as far away from the white haired man as possible.

Scar just put his right arm on the wall and the tell-time sounds of transmutation started as cracks in the wall appeared, moving towards the Beilschmidts who were more than half-way to the exit of the alley. A loud explosion sounded and smoke filled the air as parts of the buildings surrounding the alley began to fall.

As the smoke cleared, Gilbert got a good look around and noticed that the exit was now blocked and that he and his younger brother were now trapped.

"You have got to be kidding the awesome me," he muttered and turned his attention to Scar who was steadily moving towards the brothers. "Who the hell are you? Why are you after us?" Gilbert asked.

"There are those who create … and those who destroy," Scar replied. His explanation did nothing to clear up the confusion that the alchemists felt at that moment.

Gilbert clapped his hands together and placed his right on the wall.

"I guess I have no choice …" he said, as he created a long knife out of a pipe on the wall. Ludwig got into a fighting position, choosing not to fight with weapons.

"You're not afraid …" Scar noted.

"Here we go!" Gilbert yelled as he and his brother ran towards the psychopathic killer.

"… but you're SLOW!" Scar noted and blasted a giant hole in Ludwig's armor, making the suit of armor fall to the ground. Scar looked confused when he saw that no one was in the armor.

"_West_!" Gilbert yelled as he saw his brother fall. "_You son of a -_!" Gilbert never got to finish his rant and the slice he was going to make with his knife because Scar grabbed his auto-mail arm.

"_I said you're too slow_!"

Whatever attack that the killer had been trying to do to Gilbert did not work as it rebounded and causing the albino teen to fall to the ground. Gilbert shed his coat and the white glove on his right arm.

"… Verdammt!" He growled, throwing the coat to the side.

"Auto-mail …" Scar muttered. "It's no wonder my body-disrupting attack had no effect. And _him _…" he motioned the suit of armor. "I was planning to strip him of his armor before I destroyed him, but there's nothing inside. You're a strange pair … This has taken longer than I thought …"

Gilbert clapped his hands together, panting, as he added a blade to his arm.

"Don't think that the awesome me is going to follow your _schedule_!" Gilbert yelled.

"Nein, Bruder …!" Ludwig said, watching the fight but unable to do anything as one of his legs was blown off in the attack. "You must run!"

"DON'T BE STUPID!" Gilbert yelled as his brother. "I'm not leaving without you!"

"Hmm …" Scar muttered, watching the State Alchemist. "You create a transmutation circle by putting your hands together … and then use the power that flows between them … Well then …" Gilbert moved forward to slash the killer with his auto-mail arm, but Scar caught the blow by gripping the hand. "I'll start with your arm.

"Allow me to destroy it."

Gilbert, the _Fullmetal Alchemist_, was helpless to do anything as his arm was blown to bits by the ruthless murderer.

**To Be Continued …**

**I would first like to thank everyone who has reviewed or read this story, or even just continued to read this. It really means a lot to me. **

**Also I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but it seems I misjudged the length and I promise that the next chapter will be longer.**

**I'm trying to get the next chapter up soon, but I can't make any promises. **


	13. After the Rain Part I

Chapter Thirteen – After the Rain Part I

Eyes widened, auto-mail destroyed, with his soon-to-be killer standing above him, Gilbert fell to his eyes in shock, clutching his right shoulder.

"East …" His brother asked, also in a form of shock, but not as severe as his brother's. "GILBERT!"

Lightning stuck a loud _Kra-koom_ sound not that far from where the three were standing.

"I'll give you a moment to pray," Scar said, standing over the alchemist.

"Sorry to disappoint you …" Gilbert said, coming out of his shock. "… But there's no God that I feel like praying to. Am I the only one you're after?" A thought had hit the teenager when he was in shock. "My younger bruder, West … are you going to kill him too?" Gilbert knew there was a small chance of him making it out alive but he could at least try to get Ludwig out of the situation alive. After all, he is the world's most awesome older bruder.

"If anyone gets in my way I will eliminate them … but right now I only have business with you, the _Fullmetal Alchemist_."

"All right them," Gilbert said seriously. "Promise me. Promise that you won't touch my bruder."

"East …"

Scar was not an unreasonable man and decided that he would obey the alchemist's last request. "I promise."

However the younger brother in question was not taking the request as nicely as Gilbert had thought – which actually was not all that good.

"What do you mean …?! Gilbert, _what are you doing_?! Run! Get up and run!" Why wasn't Gilbert listening? Scar's hand was getting pretty close to Gilbert's head and the younger albino was doing nothing at all, just bowing his head. Did he actually _want_ to _die_? "Nein! Get up and run, Gilbert! Nein! NEIN!"

Just as the hand was about to reach Gilbert, a warning shot was fired into the air. Alfred, Alice, Densen and a whole bunch of other Military officers had managed to make it in time to stop Scar from killing the teenager.

"_That's enough_," Alfred said, still holding the gun that he had fired. "That was pretty close, _Fullmetal_," he added as a side note. "That man is suspected in the serial killing of State Alchemists. And judging from what the hero just saw, that suspicion just became fact. The murder at the Tucker Estate … let me guess. That was you too?" At this, Gilbert looked up and growled at the murderer.

"This world was made perfect by God. Alchemists change the natural into the unnatural … twist things out of their true form … they sin by defacing God's creation," Scar explained creating a fist. "I am an instrument of Divine Judgment!"

"Makes some sense to the hero. Then _why_ … do you only target State Alchemists when there are so many other alchemists you could kill?" Alfred asked.

"If you insist on stopping me, I'll just eliminate you too."

Alfred's eyes narrowed as he tossed the gun towards a surprised Alice. "Oh, you will, huh?"

"Colonel Jones!" Alice warned as Alfred stepped towards Scar, putting on his gloves.

"Stay out of this," the blond colonel ordered.

"Jones …" Scar mused, the name familiar to him. "The State Alchemist?" He asked.

"The one and the only!" Alfred bragged. "I'm the _Flame Alchemist_, Alfred F. Jones!"

"I never thought I'd see this ... you turn from the path of God, then come to meet judgment of your own free will," Scar said starting a run towards the colonel. "_What a glorious day this is_!"

"_You know that I'm the _Flame Alchemist_, but you still want to fight me_?" Alfred asked, fingers ready to snap. "_You're a fool_!"

Something caught Alice's attention as she started to call out; "Colo …" she stopped as she ducked down, sticking one leg out to trip Alfred who just barely missed being stuck in the face by Scar's destroying hand. A spilt second later, Alice had two guns in her hands and fired rounds of shots at Scar who nimbly dodged the bullets.

"What was THAT for?!" Alfred asked. "What the hell, Kirkland!"

"You're bloody useless on rainy days. Stand back, Colonel," Alice said and Alfred's mood slightly deflated.

"Oh yeah …!" Densen said, holding out a hand to catch the water. "He can't put out sparks in this moisture …"

While Alfred was feeling useless and moping around on the wet ground, Scar had moved back towards an alley.

"Lucky for me … you came to fight me but you can't make flames. _State Alchemists, sympathizers, and everyone who tries to stop me! I will destroy everyone here!_" the white haired killer yelled.

"GO AHEAD AND TRY." A loud voice came behind Scar who narrowly missed a punch from the major that had been with Antonio – Armstrong.

"Huh … another one …!" Scar noted, dodging pieces of rock.

"You dodged that …" Armstrong said, pulling back his fist which had a metal glove like creation that had spikes and an alchemy circle on it. "Not half bad … You brazen insurrectionary! I've had enough of you! You want to destroy everyone here?" Alfred was still on the ground, muttering about being useless while everyone else was watching. "Don't make me _laugh_! Why don't you try to beat _me_ first?!" Armstrong moved forward. "I'M THE _STRONGARM ALCHEMIST_ … ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG!"

"… So many of you today … one after another … but it saves me the trouble of having to search you out. This must be a gift from God!"

Armstrong threw up a large chunk of rock into the air. "Hmh, hmh … so you won't back down, eh? Then as a sign of respect for your courage, I'll show you _this_!" Armstrong wound his arm up as the rock fell down. "THE ELEGANT ALCHEMICAL TECHNIQUE PASSED DOWN THROUGH THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS!" When Armstrong's fist hit the rock, it was transmutated into a large arrow-head that was aimed at Scar's head and said murderer managed to move out of the way just in time. "AND AGAIN!" Armstrong declared when he punched the ground and large cone-like objects with a pointed end appeared around Scar and the only damage they managed to do before Scar destroyed them was ripping his coat slightly.

"MAJOR!" Densen yelled while fumbling with a rifle. "Don't tear up the street!"

"WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY?!" Armstrong asked. "WHAT DESTROYS CAN ALSO CREATE! AND WHAT CREATES CAN ALSO DESTROY! DESTRUCTION AND CREATION ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN! WE MUST TEAR DOWN IN ORDER TO BUILD! THAT IS THE GREAT LAW OF THE COSMOS!" During this Armstrong had somehow managed to loose his shirt, showing off his muscled chest and arms. Scar looked greatly confused.

"Why did he take off his shirt?" Densen asked.

"As if I bloody know," Alice replied. "But that is some really crazy alchemy."

"'Crazy', eh?" Armstrong asked. "A fellow Alchemist knows the truth in what I say. _Isn't that right, Scar_?"

"A fellow …?!" Alfred asked, finally recovering from his depression. "Are you saying _he's_ an alchemist too?"

"The awesome me knew it," Gilbert said from where he was sitting out the fight. "There are three main steps to alchemical transmutation: _Analysis_, _deconstruction _and _reconstruction_."

"I see …" Alfred started. "So he's stopping transmuting at the second stage … the stage of _deconstruction_!"

"But if he's an alchemist, then he's going against his own preachings!" Densen said.

"Yeah … any why does he only go after State Alchemists …?" Alfred asked, thinking.

'Hmm …' Scar thought, watching Armstrong fight him. 'For his size, he has unusually quick footwork … unusually high strength … and he augments his powers with his alchemy … this man is dangerous. But …'

Scar blocked a punch with his arm and his back hit a brick wall.

"NOW I'VE GOT YOU!" Armstrong yelled as he brought his arm back to deliver a punch to Scar, but the murderer noticed a flaw.

'… he swings too wide and leaves himself open,' Scar thought and noticed an opening to use his special attack on the alchemist. 'THERE!'

However just before the white haired could use the attack, Armstrong moved backwards, surprising the murderer.

'He had me cornered … why'd he pull back?!'

A bullet grazing his forehead and knocking off his glasses answered the question. Four more shots were fired, all of them narrowing missing Scar, by the quick reflexes of the murderer. During the fight, the rifle that Densen had been fumbling with had been passed to Alice who had then when Armstrong got Scar into a position, fired it at the murderer.

"Did you get him!?" Alfred asked.

"He's fast," Alice commented. "One shot grazed him … that's all."

When people next looked at Scar they noticed his dark red eyes.

"_Red eyes_! And his dark skin …" Armstrong started.

"He's an Ishbalan!" Alfred finished.

**To Be Continued …**

**Okay now this chapter was hard to find a place to stop, but this looked good. I've written up the next half of the chapter, but I'll post that when I finish the next chapter. **

**I again, would like to thank all of my reviewers and the people who have put this on their favorite or story alerts – it really makes my day when I see that someone actually likes this story. **

**Guess who got the Hunger Games on DVD on Saturday? I did! You guys should really watch the movie – it's awesome. **

**Well until next time! **


	14. After The Rain Part II

Chapter Fourteen – After the Rain Part II

Scar looked at the group of people. "Maybe there _are_ too many of you …" he said.

"Whoa there! Don't try to run for it. The hero has you surrounded."

However Scar used his right arm and when it hit the floor, a giant hole was created and the Ishbalan disappeared into the sewers.

"Th-that maniac went into the sewers!" Densen said, looking down into the hole.

"Don't go after him, Densen."

"You think I'm chasing _him _down _there_?!"

Alfred turned to the blond State Alchemist. "I'm sorry. The hero gave you enough time to surround him and …"

"No, no, no. It was all I could do from being killed; much less give you more time."

"Hey? Amigos? Is it over?" Antonio asked from where he had been hiding in an alley, as he poked his head out.

"Lieutenant Colonel Carriedo … where have _you _been all this time?" Armstrong asked.

Antonio gave him a thumbs up. "_Hiding! _If things went bad, _someone_ had to live to tell the tale."

"You know, next time, could you consider possibly helping us?" Alfred asked.

"_Forget it_! Don't try to drag normal humans like me under the big top with the rest of you freaks!"

"Freaks …" Alfred muttered, getting annoyed.

"Hey! Fights over!" Antonio said to soldiers. "We've got work to do! Distribute an identification sketch of the assailant! On the double!"

"_Ludwig_!"

The two military officers turned to where Gilbert was kneeling in front of his motionless brother who was propped up against a wall.

"_West_! _Are you all right_?! _Hey_!"

"Gilbert …" his brother started in a low voice. "YOU DUMMKOPT!"

Gilbert was in shock from the punch that his brother gave him.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU RUN AWAY WHEN I TOLD YOU TO!?"

"Because I didn't just want to leave you here …" However his answer earned him another punch.

"THAT'S WHAT I MEAN BY STUPID!"

"Why?! If I ran away you might have been killed!"

"I might _not_ have been killed too! When there's a way to survive and then you choose death, that's what _dummkopts_ do!"

"D…don't talk that way to your older bruder!" Gilbert said and was surprised when his brother's arm grabbed his lapels.

"I'll talk to you however I want! _You have you live … and keep living so you can do more research! You have to find a way to get our old bodies back! I won't let you throw away that chance! If you did, I would never forgive you_!"

As soon as Ludwig had finished that statement, the arm that was holding Gilbert fell off.

"Oh great! Now my arm came off too …! It's your fault Gilbert, you dummkopt!"

Gilbert laughed softly. "We're a real mess aren't we? How unawesome."

"But we're alive."

"Ja," Gilbert said. "_We're alive_," when had said that, Alice put her military coat over the albino's shoulders to help keep the rain off of him. Meanwhile Alfred, Antonio and Armstrong were watching from a distance away.

"That … suit of armor … is his younger brother? I've never heard of transmutating a human soul …" Armstrong said.

"He must have been willing to lay down his life to try something like that. That's why the bond between those two is so strong," Alfred explained. "Well, it looks like they'll get a moments rest."

"I don't think _you_ rest yet, amigo," Antonio said from where he was leaning on a wall. "You've got a very dangerous man after you."

"And he's an Ishbalan … looks like it might get worse."

XXX

"The Ishbalans are a people from the east, who believe in one God, Ishvara. Due to religious differences, they'd always been in conflict with the central government …. But thirteen years ago, when an army officer accidentally shot an Ishbalan child, the incident exploded into civil war. Riot led to riot, and soon the fires of civil war spread through out the entire east area. After seven frustrating years, the military commanders took a new tactic …_they used State Alchemists in an all-out genocide campaign_. They were recruited as human weapons. It was an opportunity to test their suitability for war," Alfred explained from his office. "The hero was one of those alchemists.

"That's why there's a certain justice that one of the last surviving Ishbalans would seek revenge."

"It's still not justice," Gilbert said, "whatever happened, he's still involving innocent people for the sake of his revenge. He's just candy-coating it by acting self-righteous and calling himself 'An Instrument of God.'"

"We're talking about someone who hates alchemy, but used that very same power to get revenge. Someone like that, who's either insane or doesn't care what other people think about them, is one of the most dangerous people there is. Frankly, he scares me, amigos."

"The hero says that we can't care what people think about us, either. Because we can't afford to die yet. The next time we meet, there won't be any explanations. Because we'll kill him."

"Okay," Antonio said, getting up. "On that cheerful note … that's enough of this pointless conversation. So what are you guys going to do now?" the question was directed to Gilbert and Ludwig who were both sitting near by.

"Well, the awesome me wants to fix West's armor, but I can't perform alchemy with just one arm …"

"Shall I try to fix it for you?" Armstrong asked, his shirt still off.

"Nein, thank you," Ludwig quickly said.

"I'm the only one who knows who to keep West's soul in the armor …. So first I need to get a new arm."

"Right …" Alice said, "If Gilbert can't use alchemy, then he's just …"

"… a little brat who swears a lot," Densen finished.

"An arrogant pipsqueak," Antonio added.

"Useless, just useless," Alfred added.

"Sorry, bruder … but I've got nothing to follow that …"

"YOU'RE ALL PICKING ON ME!" Gilbert yelled. After calming down. "Fine. I have no choice …

"I have to go see my mechanic."

**To Be Continued …**

**Well, I would again like to thank everyone who has been reviewing and or favoriting this story. It really means a lot. **

**I'm nearly done the next chapter, so hopefully it'll be up within the week. **


	15. This is Not A Chapter!

**This is not a Chapter!**

**I know it's been a while since I have updated, but my family has gotten some important news. We're moving up north. And so I will have to put this story on hold for a while. I will try to update whenever I can, but I make no promises. I apologize to everyone who thought this was an update and I will try my best to update as soon as humanely possible. **

**The Awsome one **


	16. The Road of Hope Part I

Chapter Fifteen – The Road of Hope Part I

"I've got a ton of work waiting for me back at Central."

"I can't leave the East Headquarters."

"I'm too busy babysitting the Colonel. Someone has to keep him in line."

"I don't think I can protect him from someone that dangerous."

"Our thoughts exactly."

'But why … of everyone they could have sent,' Gilbert thought, squished against the window and his companion. 'Why does it have to be _him_?!' He complained looking somewhat ill while sitting next to a cheerful Armstrong.

XXX

_Earlier that very same day …_

Armstrong was in tears as Gilbert looked horrified and before he could blink, Armstrong was crushing his ribs in a spine breaking hug.

"OH, GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT! I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT YOU!" Armstrong said releasing the elder Beilschmidt. "The pure love that led you to try to resurrect your dead mother! The brotherly love that made you risk your own life to being back your younger brother's soul! I AM SO MOVED!"

"Stay back," Gilbert said. He turned to Alfred looking stressed. "So, um, who told him all about me, _Colonel_?"

"Well … when the Major is leaning on you, it's extremely hard not to tell him what he wants …"

"Knowing the details of you past …" Armstrong said, using a handkerchief to wipe away his tears. "… That's why I've decided to escort you on your trip to your engineer!"

"What?! You must be crazy!" Gilbert exclaimed. "I don't need a guard!"

"Gilbert. You're planning to travel around in that state when Scar could attack you at any moment?" Alice asked him catching his attention. "Of course we're going to assign a guard to you. Otherwise you'll be totally defenseless."

"Plus," Densen added from where he was sitting. "With your arm the way it is, you won't be able to carry Ludwig either."

Gilbert sighed, gripping his right shoulder. "But it doesn't have to be the _Major_!"

"I got a ton for work waiting for me back at Central," Antonio said.

"I can't leave the East headquarters," Alfred added. Alice was next.

"I'm too busy babysitting the Colonel. Someone hast to keep him in line."

"I don't think I can protect him from someone that dangerous," Densen said.

"Our thoughts exactly," the rest of Alfred's group said.

"So it's decided!" Armstrong said.

"_Nothing's 'decided'_!" Gilbert yelled.

"Now, you boys … please listen to your elders," Armstrong said, bending down to look the albino in the face.

"Don't treat the awesome me like a kid!" Gilbert objected. "Why you …" He turned to Ludwig, his only ally at the moment. "_Hey, West_! Are you going to take that?!"

"I see no problem with Major Armstrong escorting us," his brother replied. Gilbert felt like nothing was going his way. Of course his brother would see the logic, but what about family loyalty?

"If you still plan on making a fuss, would you prefer if the hero court-martialed you for disobeying orders?" Alfred asked, laughing evilly.

"WHAT?! You dirty …!"

"Now that it's decided," Armstrong interrupted Gilbert's angered mutter. "Let's pack up."

"Tada!" Armstrong said, motioning towards where the younger brother was packed up. "Baggage fees are cheaper than travel fees!" Was Armstrong's logic for putting Ludwig in a crate. Gilbert however was on his knees muttering;

"My poor bruder …"

"You get ready too, Gilbert Beilschmidt," Armstrong added turning to Gilbert. "Did you bring your handkerchief?"

"I told you, don't treat the awesome me like a kid!"

Gilbert sighed, remembering that conversation.

'Now I can look forward to a whole unawesome train ride with this bozo …'

A knock on the window beside him caught his attention. Turning his head, he saw Antonio standing beside the train window.

"Lieutenant Colonel Carriedo!" The albino said, somewhat in surprise.

"Hola. The guys at headquarters say they're too busy to come, so I came here to see you off. Oh, and I have a message from Alfred."

"From the Colonel?"

"'I won't allow you to die in the hero's jurisdiction because it'd be a pain to the clean up the mess.' His words, not mine."

"Ja. Tell him; 'Understood. I'd never die before you, Colonel, you #*$ idiot," Gilbert replied, without a missing a beat. Antonio just laughed at that.

"They say that the ruder you are, the luckier you are! In that case, you and Al are going to live forever!" The train whistle blew and Antonio noticed that the train was going to be leaving. "Well, amigos, I have to get back to the office. Let me know if you're ever in Central – I'm certain that you'll love to meet my darling Lovi!" Antonio saluted the State Alchemists and they did the same, only Gilbert had to use his left arm.

XXX

"So, this person you know is an Auto-Mail Mechanic? I've never met anyone of that line of work," Armstrong said, a little while later.

"Well, they're actually a surgeon, a weaponsmith specializing in prostheses, and an auto-mail expert. The awesome me gets a good deal 'cause I've know them all my life. And they do awesome work."

"And what kind of place is this Resembool?"

"A quaint little town. Nothing for miles. Everything got destroyed because of the Civil War. It could have been a bustling city if the military had been more awesome."

"You're making my ears hurt."

"Should I say more?" Gilbert asked, solely saying that, hoping that it was making the blond man suffer. "… It's actually a really nice place. It's in the middle of nowhere, but you can get things that you can't get in a city. It's mine and West's hometown …" Something then hit the albino's mind. "By the way … you _did_ put West on this train, right?" He asked, turning towards Armstrong.

"Yes, I took care of everything."

Ludwig was not very pleased with being stuck in the livestock car with only sheep. Their _baaah_ing was getting quickly annoying.

"I thought he might get lonely by himself …"

"YOU JERK! THAT'S WORSE THAN THE LUGGAGE CAR!" Gilbert yelled.

"Really, what's the problem? He's got plenty of room, it's cheap, there's lot of living things … wooly friends …"

"QUIT MESSING WITH MY BRUDER!"

The blond woman sitting ahead of then just smiled, listening to the yelling.

XXX

A few hours later, the train had stopped at a town. Gilbert had just started to take a nap when Armstrong noticed a man walking by the train.

"DR. MARCOH!" The blond yelled, recognizing the elderly man and waking up the albino. "Aren't you Dr. Marcoh?" The man in question looked panicked when he saw Armstrong. "It's Alex Louis Armstrong from Central!"

The man – believed to be Marcoh – started running away, trying to get away as fast as he could from the State Alchemists.

"Someone you know?" The white haired alchemist asked, annoyed at being woken up.

"Yes … he's a skilled alchemist who was involved in the alchemy research department at Central. He was studying the use of alchemy for medical purposes, but he vanished during the civil war."

"Let's get off!" Gilbert said, moving to get off of the train.

"Don't we get off at Resembool?" Armstrong asked, confused.

"If he used to do that kind of research, then he might know something about biological transmutation too!" the teenager explained. "We have to get West and the luggage off too!" He called over his shoulder, stepping off the train. He turned to an official. "Excuse me. We're getting off here!"

As Gilbert was mentioning about how his brother smelled like sheep, the blond woman from before stood in the shadows, listening to them.

"Dr. Marcoh … vell, vell …"

Gilbert ran up to a man suddenly. "Excuse the awesome me … we're looking for someone who just passed by …" he started but Armstrong pushed a notebook with a sketch of the doctor's face in front of him.

"Have you seen an elderly man who looks like this?" He asked. Gilbert looked at the picture.

"You're a good artist, Major …" he managed to mutter.

"It's the skill of portraiture that's been passed down for generations in the Armstrong Family!"

The man looked at the picture, recognizing the man.

"Oh that's Dr. Mauro!"

"Sure we know him!" Another added, grinning.

"'Mauro?'" Armstrong asked. The first man who spoke started to explain.

"As you can see, this isn't the richest town in the world. Most people around here can't afford doctors, but Dr. Mauro treats people for free."

"He's a good man," a blond added.

"He treats patients that most doctors say don't have a chance to survive!"

A man sitting down laughed, slapping his leg. "'S true! When I got my leg stuck in the weed puller and almost died, he fixed it good as new!"

"When he treats you," a woman said. "It's like there's a flash of light and then you're healed!"

"A flash of light …" mused Gilbert.

"Yes, it must be Alchemy," Armstrong agreed. The two asked for directions to 'Mauro's' house and got an address on the other side of town.

"So he's been using an alias – unawesome – and hiding out in the countryside. But why? What's he hiding from?" Gilbert asked.

"Apparently, when the doctor disappeared, some of the top-secret research material disappeared too. It was rumored that he stole it and ran …. Perhaps he thought we were sent here to bring him back …" Armstrong explained, as the three waked up the stairs. (Well more like Gilbert and Armstrong walked up – Ludwig's crate was being carried by Armstrong.)

"Hallo …?" Gilbert asked, opening the door. "Anybody … _home_?" The albino was surprised by the barrel of the gun pointed at his face and jumped to the side when it was fired at him, yelling.

"What did you come for?" Marcoh asked, holding the gun in front of him, hands shaking.

"Please calm down doctor," Armstrong said, calmly as Gilbert recovered from his heart attack.

"Did you come to take me back!?" Marcoh yelled. "I'll never go back to that place! I beg you! Let me go …!"

"No, that's not possible," Armstrong answered.

"So you came to KILL me and shut me up for good!"

Gilbert watched the exchange, quietly for once.

"First, if you could please lower your gun …"

"You can't fool me!"

Armstrong's patience finally ran out and he threw the crate at Marcoh.

"I SAID, PLEASE CALM DOWN!"

XXX

Several minutes later, Marcoh had let the Beilschmidts and Armstrong into his house and they were sitting around a kitchen table – other than Ludwig who was sitting on the floor near them.

Marcoh broke the silence.

"I couldn't stand it anymore … having to obey their orders … dirtying my hands to research the things I did … and then seeing it used in the civil war to slaughter hundreds of thousands of people … it was an awful war … so many innocent people died … I couldn't make up for my actions if I paid for them for the rest of my life. But I still try to do what I can … that's why I work as a doctor in this place," he finished solemnly.

"What were you researching before you left? What did you take with you …?" Armstrong. Marcoh rested his hand on his forehead, looking shaken.

"_I was researching the Philosopher's Stone._"

**To Be Continued …**

**Hello again! I'm sorry for the long delay, but I've been really busy. I've only just moved up north about two weeks and one day ago, so this is the first time I've gotten the time to write anything. But now that I have, I've gotten time to continue this story. I've been looking over this, and I will be making a few changes in the story – like character names and what not, but nothing major.**

**Well cookies and brownies for the people who review and are still reading this story! **

**Until later!**


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